Sharing of secondary storage data

ABSTRACT

An information management system according to certain aspects allows users to share a portion of a file (e.g., a document) stored in secondary storage. The user may specify a portion of a secondary storage file to share and send a link to the portion to another user. The other user can access the shared portion from the link, and just the shared portion may be restored from secondary storage. The system according to certain aspects provides a native view of secondary storage data on a client computing device. The index data and/or metadata relating to secondary storage data may be stored in native application format for access via the native source application.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE TO ANY PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

Any and all priority claims identified in the Application Data Sheet, orany correction thereto, are hereby incorporated by reference under 37CFR 1.57.

BACKGROUND

Businesses worldwide recognize the commercial value of their data andseek reliable, cost-effective ways to protect the information stored ontheir computer networks while minimizing impact on productivity.Protecting information is often part of a routine process that isperformed within an organization.

A company might back up critical computing systems such as databases,file servers, web servers, and so on as part of a daily, weekly, ormonthly maintenance schedule. The company may similarly protectcomputing systems used by each of its employees, such as those used byan accounting department, marketing department, engineering department,and so forth.

Given the rapidly expanding volume of data under management, companiesalso continue to seek innovative techniques for managing data growth, inaddition to protecting data. For instance, companies often implementmigration techniques for moving data to lower cost storage over time anddata reduction techniques for reducing redundant data, pruning lowerpriority data, etc.

Enterprises also increasingly view their stored data as a valuableasset. Along these lines, customers are looking for solutions that notonly protect and manage, but also leverage their data. For instance,solutions providing data analysis capabilities, information management,improved data presentation and access features, and the like, are inincreasing demand.

Enterprises may restore backed up data, for example, when the data inprimary storage is archived, migrated, becomes corrupt, or is otherwiseunavailable. However, restoring large amounts of data can consume largeamounts of time and system resources. Moreover, existing user interfacesfor providing user access to secondary copies of data are often notintuitive or user friendly.

SUMMARY

Due to the above challenges, there is a need for restoring and/orsharing files and/or only portions of files from secondary storage.Embodiments described herein allow users to access, browse, and/or sharesecondary storage data in a straightforward manner.

For instance, in contrast to existing systems, a user can employ certainsystems described herein to view and access secondary copy data withouthaving to switch between different applications and user interfaces.According to certain aspects, files in secondary storage are accessibleby users via a native file system browser. The user interface andexperience can be the same or substantially the same as for accessingprimary or production copies of files, and the fact that the file hasbeen accessed from secondary storage can therefore be transparent to theuser, e.g., without requiring the use of a specialized interface foraccessing data in secondary storage.

In addition, it may be useful to share a portion of a secondary storagefile with another user without sharing a full copy of the file. Due tothe above challenges, there is a need for a simplified method ofbrowsing, accessing, and/or sharing secondary storage data.

In order to address these and other challenges, certain informationmanagement systems disclosed herein are configured to implement partialsharing of a secondary storage file. An information management systemaccording to certain aspects may also provide access to secondarystorage files or other data using a native view of secondary storagedata. Index data and/or other metadata relating to the secondary storagedata can be used to implement such techniques. Index data can include acontent index.

The information management system according to certain aspects can allowusers to share a portion of a file (e.g., a document) in secondarystorage. In many situations where a user wants to share a file withanother user, the user does not need to share the entire file. Therelevant portions are generally a small percentage of the file. Forexample, a user may want to share only 2 relevant pages out of a100-page document. When sharing secondary storage files, the system mayprovide the functionality of selecting a portion of the file. The usercan specify a portion of a secondary storage file to share and send alink to the portion to another user. The receiving user can access theshared portion from the link, and just the shared portion may berestored from secondary storage. Or the shared portion may be availablefrom content index data. In this manner, the system can reduce theamount of resources used in sharing and restoring a secondary storagefile.

The information management system according to certain aspects can alsoprovide a native view of secondary storage data on a client computer. Aclient may store information relating to secondary storage data locally(e.g., on the client machine itself or in the associated informationstore) so that it may access the information without accessing thesecondary storage. Such information may include index data and/ormetadata relating to secondary storage data. The index data and/ormetadata may be stored in native format (e.g., format of theapplication(s) that generated the secondary storage data) so that thesecondary storage data can be displayed in a native view. For instance,secondary copy files or other data may be accessed with a native filesystem browser on the client computing device, without using a separateor specialized interface. In this manner, the fact that a user isaccessing data from secondary storage rather than primary storage can betransparent to the user. For example, files in secondary storage may bebrowsed using Windows Explorer on a client computer. The client cansynchronize the index data and/or metadata (e.g., periodically) toreflect any updates, without synchronizing the secondary storage dataitself. If a user accesses particular data items in the native view, thedata items may be restored from secondary storage. In this manner, thesystem can simplify the process of viewing primary storage data andsecondary storage data on a client, and the amount of data actuallyaccessed from secondary storage can be reduced, improving performance.

Where only a portion of the file is accessed for sharing, systems andmethods described herein utilize a partial file restore scheme, where aportion of the secondary copy of a file or other data unit is restoredinstead of the entire secondary copy. Restoring only the desired portioncan save a significant amount of time, especially for large files likemovie and large document files.

The user may indicate the portion of the secondary copy to restore usingan interface of the native application associated with the file. As justone illustrative example, a user drags a playback slider in a graphicaluser interface (GUI) of a video playback application to begin playingthe video at some intermediate point in the video file. The intermediatepoint corresponds to an application offset which designates the startingposition for the portion of the file to be restored. However, while thenative application can use the application offsets to access selectedportions of files, application offsets may not map to correspondingoffsets in the secondary copy of the file. For example, secondary copiesmay include backup-related metadata (e.g., in a header). In addition,the data for the secondary copy may have been deduplicated, compressed,etc. Accordingly, certain embodiments described herein advantageouslymap between native application offsets and secondary copy offsets, whichcan allow for access to selected portions of files stored in secondarystorage in a fast and efficient manner.

The information management system according to certain aspects canprovide one or more in-chunk indexes that include the mappinginformation for one or more files. Secondary copies in the system may bestored in logical data units, which may be referred to as “chunks.” Forinstance, secondary copies may be formatted and/or organized as a seriesof chunks and may be written to secondary storage on a chunk-by-chunkbasis. This can facilitate efficient communication and writing tosecondary storage. For example, larger chunk sizes can provide betterthroughput when writing data to secondary storage (e.g., tape media).

Each chunk may have associated metadata information or index files. Thein-chunk index for a chunk may be included in the chunk metadatainformation, or may be an index file associated with the chunk. Thein-chunk index can be written to secondary storage with the chunk. Themapping information for a secondary copy can become quite extensivesince mapping information can be created for numerous points in thefile. Storing the in-chunk index in secondary storage, along with thesecondary copy, can provide certain advantages. For instance, thisapproach can help maintain the sizes of indexes associated with othercomponents in the system (e.g., the storage manager, the media agent,etc.) at manageable levels.

The in-chunk index may include any information relating to mappingbetween application offsets and secondary copy offsets. For example, thein-chunk index can include a list of application offsets and theircorresponding secondary storage offsets. The in-chunk index may alsoindicate the physical byte position in the chunk that corresponds to thesecondary storage offset. A file may span across multiple chunks, andthe physical byte position information can facilitate locating theactual byte position for the secondary copy offset in a particularchunk. A chunk can include multiple files, and the in-chunk index mayinclude the mapping information for all the files in the chunk. In suchcases, the in-chunk index may also indicate which application offsetsbelong to which files in the chunk.

The in-chunk index may be created and stored while performing a storageoperation, such as a backup or an archive operation, and can be accessedat the time of restore in order to find the corresponding secondary copyoffset for the user selected application offset. As mentioned above, theuser can indicate one or more application offsets for the portion of thefile to be restored (e.g., via the application user interface). Themapping information between the application offsets and the secondarycopy offsets may not be provided at a fixed interval (e.g., due to thedynamic nature of amount of data written to a buffer during a storageoperation). Accordingly, the system may perform a search through variousapplication offsets in the in-chunk index to locate the correspondingsecondary copy offset. Various search techniques may be used, includinga binary search.

The in-chunk index can be provided at a desired level of granularitydepending on the requirements of the system. However, the in-chunk indexmay not include the exact application offset selected by the user. Insuch cases, the search through the in-chunk index may locate the nearestsecondary copy offset (e.g., the application offset prior to the userselected application offset). The system can provide information aboutthe actual restore application offset so that the application can beaware that the restored portion does not start exactly from the userselected application offset.

In this manner, the information management system according to certainaspects can restore a portion of a secondary storage file in a fast andefficient manner. By providing mapping information between applicationoffsets and secondary copy offsets, the system can quickly locate thecorresponding or nearest secondary copy offset for the user selectedapplication offset. Using the in-chunk index, the system can provide afast response time for the restore and a positive user experience. Inaddition, the mapping information may be stored in secondary storage,which can reduce the amount of data included in the storage managerindex, media manager index, etc. By allowing partial file restore, thesystem may reduce the amount of time and resources for restoring filesfrom secondary storage.

According to some embodiments, a method of sharing a portion of a filein secondary storage. The method may include receiving a request toshare a portion of a file in a secondary storage subsystem from a clientcomputing device residing in a primary storage subsystem, the requestincluding at least one application offset generated in response to userselection of the portion of the file, the at least one applicationoffset corresponding to the portion of the file and usable by a softwareapplication to access the portion of the file for presentation to auser. The method may also include identifying, with computer hardwareand using the at least one application offset, a start secondary storageoffset of the file, the start secondary storage offset separate from theapplication offset and corresponding to a location of the portion of thefile on a first storage device residing in the secondary storagesubsystem. The method can also include generating, using computerhardware, a link to the portion of the file, the link including areference to the start secondary storage offset. The method canadditionally include, in response to receipt of an indication of a userselection of the link, causing a restore of the portion of the file fromthe first storage device for presentation to a user of the portion ofthe file by the software application, without restoring the entire filefrom the first storage device.

According to certain embodiments, a data storage system configured toshare a portion of a file in secondary storage is provided. The systemmay include a first storage device residing in a secondary storagesubsystem and storing a plurality of files including a first file. Thesystem may also include computer hardware configured to executeinstructions. The instructions may cause the computer hardware toreceive a request to share a portion of the first file from a clientcomputing device residing in a primary storage subsystem, the requestincluding at least one application offset generated in response to userselection of the portion of the first file, the at least one applicationoffset corresponding to the portion of the first file and usable by asoftware application to access the portion of the first file forpresentation to a user. The instructions may further cause the computerhardware to identify, using the at least one application offset, a startsecondary storage offset of the first file, the start secondary storageoffset separate from the application offset and corresponding to alocation of the portion of the first file on the first storage device.The instructions can also cause the computer hardware to generate a linkto the portion of the first file, the link including a reference to thestart secondary storage offset. The instructions can additionally causethe computer hardware to, in response to receipt of an indication of auser selection of the link, causing a restore of the portion of thefirst file from the first storage device for presentation to a user ofthe portion of the first file by the software application, withoutrestoring the entire first file from the first storage device.

For purposes of summarizing the disclosure, certain aspects, advantagesand novel features of the inventions have been described herein. It isto be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may beachieved in accordance with any particular embodiment of the invention.Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner thatachieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taughtherein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taughtor suggested herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary informationmanagement system.

FIG. 1B is a detailed view of a primary storage device, a secondarystorage device, and some examples of primary data and secondary copydata.

FIG. 1C is a block diagram of an exemplary information management systemincluding a storage manager, one or more data agents, and one or moremedia agents.

FIG. 1D is a block diagram illustrating a scalable informationmanagement system.

FIG. 1E illustrates certain secondary copy operations according to anexemplary storage policy.

FIGS. 1F-1H are block diagrams illustrating suitable data structuresthat may be employed by the information management system.

FIG. 2 is a data flow diagram illustrative of the interaction betweenthe various components of an exemplary information management systemconfigured to implement an in-chunk index for partial file restore,according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a data flow diagram illustrative of the interaction betweenthe various components of another exemplary information managementsystem configured to implement partial file restore, according tocertain embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrative of one embodiment of a routine forcreating in-chunk index for partial file restore.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrative of one embodiment of a routine forrestoring a file using partial file restore.

FIG. 6 is a data flow diagram illustrative of the interaction betweenthe various components of an exemplary information management systemconfigured to implement partial file sharing, according to certainembodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary user interface for sharing a portion ofa video file in secondary storage.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary user interface for sharing a portion ofa document in secondary storage.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrative of one embodiment of a routine forpartial sharing of secondary storage files.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrative of one embodiment of a routinefor implementing a native view of secondary storage data.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are described herein for partial sharing of files insecondary storage and providing native views of secondary storage data.Examples of such systems and methods are discussed in further detailherein, e.g., with respect to FIGS. 6-10. Systems and methods aredescribed herein for partial restore of secondary storage files.Examples of such systems and methods are discussed in further detailherein, e.g., with respect to FIGS. 2-5, and are compatible with and canbe used in performing the partial sharing techniques described herein.

Moreover, it will be appreciated partial file restore may be implementedby information management systems such as those that will now bedescribed with respect to FIGS. 1A-1H. And, as will be described, thecomponentry for implementing partial file restore can be incorporatedinto such systems.

Information Management System Overview

With the increasing importance of protecting and leveraging data,organizations simply cannot afford to take the risk of losing criticaldata. Moreover, runaway data growth and other modern realities makeprotecting and managing data an increasingly difficult task. There istherefore a need for efficient, powerful, and user-friendly solutionsfor protecting and managing data.

Depending on the size of the organization, there are typically many dataproduction sources which are under the purview of tens, hundreds, oreven thousands of employees or other individuals. In the past,individual employees were sometimes responsible for managing andprotecting their data. A patchwork of hardware and software pointsolutions has been applied in other cases. These solutions were oftenprovided by different vendors and had limited or no interoperability.

Certain embodiments described herein provide systems and methods capableof addressing these and other shortcomings of prior approaches byimplementing unified, organization-wide information management. FIG. 1Ashows one such information management system 100, which generallyincludes combinations of hardware and software configured to protect andmanage data and metadata generated and used by the various computingdevices in the information management system 100.

The organization which employs the information management system 100 maybe a corporation or other business entity, non-profit organization,educational institution, household, governmental agency, or the like.

Generally, the systems and associated components described herein may becompatible with and/or provide some or all of the functionality of thesystems and corresponding components described in one or more of thefollowing U.S. patents and patent application publications assigned toCommVault Systems, Inc., each of which is hereby incorporated in itsentirety by reference herein:

-   U.S. Pat. No. 8,285,681, entitled “Data Object Store and Server for    a Cloud Storage Environment, Including Data Deduplication and Data    Management Across Multiple Cloud Storage Sites”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 8,307,177, entitled “Systems And Methods For    Management Of Virtualization Data”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,880, entitled “Modular Backup and Retrieval    System Used in Conjunction With a Storage Area Network”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, entitled “Hierarchical Systems and Methods    for Providing a Unified View of Storage Information”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 7,395,282, entitled “Hierarchical Backup and Retrieval    System”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,207, entitled “System and Method for Dynamically    Performing Storage Operations in a Computer Network”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 7,747,579, entitled “Metabase for Facilitating Data    Classification”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 8,229,954, entitled “Managing Copies of Data”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262, entitled “System and Methods for Monitoring    Application Data in a Data Replication System”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 7,529,782, entitled “System and Methods for Performing    a Snapshot and for Restoring Data”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195, entitled “System And Method For Performing    Auxiliary Storage Operations”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 7,315,923, entitled “System And Method For Combining    Data Streams In Pipelined Storage Operations In A Storage Network”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 8,364,652, entitled “Content-Aligned, Block-Based    Deduplication”;-   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2006/0224846, entitled “System and Method to    Support Single Instance Storage Operations”;-   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2010/0299490, entitled “Block-Level Single    Instancing”;-   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2009/0319534, entitled “Application-Aware and    Remote Single Instance Data Management”;-   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150826, entitled “Distributed Deduplicated    Storage System”;-   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150818, entitled “Client-Side Repository in    a Networked Deduplicated Storage System”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995, entitled “Method and System for Offline    Indexing of Content and Classifying Stored Data”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,298, entitled “System And Method For Archiving    Objects In An Information Store”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195, entitled “System And Method For Performing    Auxiliary Storage Operations”;-   U.S. Pat. No. 8,229,954, entitled “Managing Copies Of Data”; and-   U.S. Pat. No. 8,156,086, entitled “Systems And Methods For Stored    Data Verification”.

The information management system 100 can include a variety of differentcomputing devices. For instance, as will be described in greater detailherein, the information management system 100 can include one or moreclient computing devices 102 and secondary storage computing devices106.

Computing devices can include, without limitation, one or more:workstations, personal computers, desktop computers, or other types ofgenerally fixed computing systems such as mainframe computers andminicomputers.

Other computing devices can include mobile or portable computingdevices, such as one or more laptops, tablet computers, personal dataassistants, mobile phones (such as smartphones), and other mobile orportable computing devices such as embedded computers, set top boxes,vehicle-mounted devices, wearable computers, etc. Computing devices caninclude servers, such as mail servers, file servers, database servers,and web servers.

In some cases, a computing device includes virtualized and/or cloudcomputing resources. For instance, one or more virtual machines may beprovided to the organization by a third-party cloud service vendor. Or,in some embodiments, computing devices can include one or more virtualmachine(s) running on a physical host computing device (or “hostmachine”) operated by the organization. As one example, the organizationmay use one virtual machine as a database server and another virtualmachine as a mail server, both virtual machines operating on the samehost machine.

A virtual machine includes an operating system and associated virtualresources, and is hosted simultaneously with another operating system ona physical host computer (or host machine). A hypervisor (typicallysoftware, and also known in the art as a virtual machine monitor or avirtual machine manager or “VMM”) sits between the virtual machine andthe hardware of the physical host computer. One example of hypervisor asvirtualization software is ESX Server, by VMware, Inc. of Palo Alto,Calif.; other examples include Microsoft Virtual Server and MicrosoftWindows Server Hyper-V, both by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.,and Sun xVM by Oracle America Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. In someembodiments, the hypervisor may be firmware or hardware or a combinationof software and/or firmware and/or hardware.

The hypervisor provides to each virtual operating system virtualresources, such as a virtual processor, virtual memory, a virtualnetwork device, and a virtual disk. Each virtual machine has one or morevirtual disks. The hypervisor typically stores the data of virtual disksin files on the file system of the physical host computer, calledvirtual machine disk files (in the case of VMware virtual servers) orvirtual hard disk image files (in the case of Microsoft virtualservers). For example, VMware's ESX Server provides the Virtual MachineFile System (VMFS) for the storage of virtual machine disk files. Avirtual machine reads data from and writes data to its virtual disk muchthe same way that an actual physical machine reads data from and writesdata to an actual disk.

Examples of techniques for implementing information managementtechniques in a cloud computing environment are described in U.S. Pat.No. 8,285,681, which is incorporated by reference herein. Examples oftechniques for implementing information management techniques in avirtualized computing environment are described in U.S. Pat. No.8,307,177, also incorporated by reference herein.

The information management system 100 can also include a variety ofstorage devices, including primary storage devices 104 and secondarystorage devices 108, for example. Storage devices can generally be ofany suitable type including, without limitation, disk drives, hard-diskarrays, semiconductor memory (e.g., solid state storage devices),network attached storage (NAS) devices, tape libraries or othermagnetic, non-tape storage devices, optical media storage devices,DNA/RNA-based memory technology, combinations of the same, and the like.In some embodiments, storage devices can form part of a distributed filesystem. In some cases, storage devices are provided in a cloud (e.g., aprivate cloud or one operated by a third-party vendor). A storage devicein some cases comprises a disk array or portion thereof.

The illustrated information management system 100 includes one or moreclient computing device 102 having at least one application 110executing thereon, and one or more primary storage devices 104 storingprimary data 112. The client computing device(s) 102 and the primarystorage devices 104 may generally be referred to in some cases as aprimary storage subsystem 117. A computing device in an informationmanagement system 100 that has a data agent 142 installed on it isgenerally referred to as a client computing device 102 (or, in thecontext of a component of the information management system 100 simplyas a “client”).

Depending on the context, the term “information management system” canrefer to generally all of the illustrated hardware and softwarecomponents. Or, in other instances, the term may refer to only a subsetof the illustrated components.

For instance, in some cases, the information management system 100generally refers to a combination of specialized components used toprotect, move, manage, manipulate, analyze, and/or process data andmetadata generated by the client computing devices 102. However, theinformation management system 100 in some cases does not include theunderlying components that generate and/or store the primary data 112,such as the client computing devices 102 themselves, the applications110 and operating system residing on the client computing devices 102,and the primary storage devices 104. As an example, “informationmanagement system” may sometimes refer to one or more of the followingcomponents and corresponding data structures: storage managers, dataagents, and media agents. These components will be described in furtherdetail below.

Client Computing Devices

There are typically a variety of sources in an organization that producedata to be protected and managed. As just one illustrative example, in acorporate environment such data sources can be employee workstations andcompany servers such as a mail server, a web server, or the like. In theinformation management system 100, the data generation sources includethe one or more client computing devices 102.

The client computing devices 102 may include any of the types ofcomputing devices described above, without limitation, and in some casesthe client computing devices 102 are associated with one or more usersand/or corresponding user accounts, of employees or other individuals.

The information management system 100 generally addresses and handlesthe data management and protection needs for the data generated by theclient computing devices 102. However, the use of this term does notimply that the client computing devices 102 cannot be “servers” in otherrespects. For instance, a particular client computing device 102 may actas a server with respect to other devices, such as other clientcomputing devices 102. As just a few examples, the client computingdevices 102 can include mail servers, file servers, database servers,and web servers.

Each client computing device 102 may have one or more applications 110(e.g., software applications) executing thereon which generate andmanipulate the data that is to be protected from loss and managed.

The applications 110 generally facilitate the operations of anorganization (or multiple affiliated organizations), and can include,without limitation, mail server applications (e.g., Microsoft ExchangeServer), file server applications, mail client applications (e.g.,Microsoft Exchange Client), database applications (e.g., SQL, Oracle,SAP, Lotus Notes Database), word processing applications (e.g.,Microsoft Word), spreadsheet applications, financial applications,presentation applications, browser applications, mobile applications,entertainment applications, and so on.

The client computing devices 102 can have at least one operating system(e.g., Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, IBM z/OS, Linux, otherUnix-based operating systems, etc.) installed thereon, which may supportor host one or more file systems and other applications 110.

As shown, the client computing devices 102 and other components in theinformation management system 100 can be connected to one another viaone or more communication pathways 114. The communication pathways 114can include one or more networks or other connection types including asany of following, without limitation: the Internet, a wide area network(WAN), a local area network (LAN), a Storage Area Network (SAN), a FibreChannel connection, a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) connection,a virtual private network (VPN), a token ring or TCP/IP based network,an intranet network, a point-to-point link, a cellular network, awireless data transmission system, a two-way cable system, aninteractive kiosk network, a satellite network, a broadband network, abaseband network, a neural network, a mesh network, an ad hoc network,other appropriate wired, wireless, or partially wired/wireless computeror telecommunications networks, combinations of the same or the like.The communication pathways 114 in some cases may also includeapplication programming interfaces (APIs) including, e.g., cloud serviceprovider APIs, virtual machine management APIs, and hosted serviceprovider APIs.

Primary Data and Exemplary Primary Storage Devices

Primary data 112 according to some embodiments is production data orother “live” data generated by the operating system and otherapplications 110 residing on a client computing device 102. The primarydata 112 is generally stored on the primary storage device(s) 104 and isorganized via a file system supported by the client computing device102. For instance, the client computing device(s) 102 and correspondingapplications 110 may create, access, modify, write, delete, andotherwise use primary data 112. In some cases, some or all of theprimary data 112 can be stored in cloud storage resources.

Primary data 112 is generally in the native format of the sourceapplication 110. According to certain aspects, primary data 112 is aninitial or first (e.g., created before any other copies or before atleast one other copy) stored copy of data generated by the sourceapplication 110. Primary data 112 in some cases is created substantiallydirectly from data generated by the corresponding source applications110.

The primary data 112 may sometimes be referred to as a “primary copy” inthe sense that it is a discrete set of data. However, the use of thisterm does not necessarily imply that the “primary copy” is a copy in thesense that it was copied or otherwise derived from another storedversion.

The primary storage devices 104 storing the primary data 112 may berelatively fast and/or expensive (e.g., a disk drive, a hard-disk array,solid state memory, etc.). In addition, primary data 112 may be intendedfor relatively short term retention (e.g., several hours, days, orweeks).

According to some embodiments, the client computing device 102 canaccess primary data 112 from the primary storage device 104 by makingconventional file system calls via the operating system. Primary data112 representing files may include structured data (e.g., databasefiles), unstructured data (e.g., documents), and/or semi-structureddata. Some specific examples are described below with respect to FIG.1B.

It can be useful in performing certain tasks to organize the primarydata 112 into units of different granularities. In general, primary data112 can include files, directories, file system volumes, data blocks,extents, or any other hierarchies or organizations of data objects. Asused herein, a “data object” can refer to both (1) any file that iscurrently addressable by a file system or that was previouslyaddressable by the file system (e.g., an archive file) and (2) a subsetof such a file (e.g., a data block).

As will be described in further detail, it can also be useful inperforming certain functions of the information management system 100 toaccess and modify metadata within the primary data 112. Metadatagenerally includes information about data objects or characteristicsassociated with the data objects.

Metadata can include, without limitation, one or more of the following:the data owner (e.g., the client or user that generates the data), thelast modified time (e.g., the time of the most recent modification ofthe data object), a data object name (e.g., a file name), a data objectsize (e.g., a number of bytes of data), information about the content(e.g., an indication as to the existence of a particular search term),user-supplied tags, to/from information for email (e.g., an emailsender, recipient, etc.), creation date, file type (e.g., format orapplication type), last accessed time, application type (e.g., type ofapplication that generated the data object), location/network (e.g., acurrent, past or future location of the data object and network pathwaysto/from the data object), geographic location (e.g., GPS coordinates),frequency of change (e.g., a period in which the data object ismodified), business unit (e.g., a group or department that generates,manages or is otherwise associated with the data object), aginginformation (e.g., a schedule, such as a time period, in which the dataobject is migrated to secondary or long term storage), boot sectors,partition layouts, file location within a file folder directorystructure, user permissions, owners, groups, access control lists[ACLs]), system metadata (e.g., registry information), combinations ofthe same or the other similar information related to the data object.

In addition to metadata generated by or related to file systems andoperating systems, some of the applications 110 and/or other componentsof the information management system 100 maintain indices of metadatafor data objects, e.g., metadata associated with individual emailmessages. Thus, each data object may be associated with correspondingmetadata. The use of metadata to perform classification and otherfunctions is described in greater detail below.

Each of the client computing devices 102 are generally associated withand/or in communication with one or more of the primary storage devices104 storing corresponding primary data 112. A client computing device102 may be considered to be “associated with” or “in communication with”a primary storage device 104 if it is capable of one or more of: routingand/or storing data to the particular primary storage device 104,coordinating the routing and/or storing of data to the particularprimary storage device 104, retrieving data from the particular primarystorage device 104, coordinating the retrieval of data from theparticular primary storage device 104, and modifying and/or deletingdata retrieved from the particular primary storage device 104.

The primary storage devices 104 can include any of the different typesof storage devices described above, or some other kind of suitablestorage device. The primary storage devices 104 may have relatively fastI/O times and/or are relatively expensive in comparison to the secondarystorage devices 108. For example, the information management system 100may generally regularly access data and metadata stored on primarystorage devices 104, whereas data and metadata stored on the secondarystorage devices 108 is accessed relatively less frequently.

In some cases, each primary storage device 104 is dedicated to anassociated client computing device 102. For instance, a primary storagedevice 104 in one embodiment is a local disk drive of a correspondingclient computing device 102. In other cases, one or more primary storagedevices 104 can be shared by multiple client computing devices 102,e.g., via a network such as in a cloud storage implementation. As oneexample, a primary storage device 104 can be a disk array shared by agroup of client computing devices 102, such as one of the followingtypes of disk arrays: EMC Clariion, EMC Symmetrix, EMC Celerra, DellEqualLogic, IBM XIV, NetApp FAS, HP EVA, and HP 3PAR.

The information management system 100 may also include hosted services(not shown), which may be hosted in some cases by an entity other thanthe organization that employs the other components of the informationmanagement system 100. For instance, the hosted services may be providedby various online service providers to the organization. Such serviceproviders can provide services including social networking services,hosted email services, or hosted productivity applications or otherhosted applications).

Hosted services may include software-as-a-service (SaaS),platform-as-a-service (PaaS), application service providers (ASPs),cloud services, or other mechanisms for delivering functionality via anetwork. As it provides services to users, each hosted service maygenerate additional data and metadata under management of theinformation management system 100, e.g., as primary data 112. In somecases, the hosted services may be accessed using one of the applications110. As an example, a hosted mail service may be accessed via browserrunning on a client computing device 102. The hosted services may beimplemented in a variety of computing environments. In some cases, theyare implemented in an environment having a similar arrangement to theinformation management system 100, where various physical and logicalcomponents are distributed over a network.

Secondary Copies and Exemplary Secondary Storage Devices

The primary data 112 stored on the primary storage devices 104 may becompromised in some cases, such as when an employee deliberately oraccidentally deletes or overwrites primary data 112 during their normalcourse of work. Or the primary storage devices 104 can be damaged orotherwise corrupted.

For recovery and/or regulatory compliance purposes, it is thereforeuseful to generate copies of the primary data 112. Accordingly, theinformation management system 100 includes one or more secondary storagecomputing devices 106 and one or more secondary storage devices 108configured to create and store one or more secondary copies 116 of theprimary data 112 and associated metadata. The secondary storagecomputing devices 106 and the secondary storage devices 108 maysometimes be referred to as a secondary storage subsystem 118.

Creation of secondary copies 116 can help in search and analysis effortsand meet other information management goals, such as: restoring dataand/or metadata if an original version (e.g., of primary data 112) islost (e.g., by deletion, corruption, or disaster); allowingpoint-in-time recovery; complying with regulatory data retention andelectronic discovery (e-discovery) requirements; reducing utilizedstorage capacity; facilitating organization and search of data;improving user access to data files across multiple computing devicesand/or hosted services; and implementing data retention policies.

The client computing devices 102 access or receive primary data 112 andcommunicate the data, e.g., over the communication pathways 114, forstorage in the secondary storage device(s) 108.

A secondary copy 116 can comprise a separate stored copy of applicationdata that is derived from one or more earlier-created, stored copies(e.g., derived from primary data 112 or another secondary copy 116).Secondary copies 116 can include point-in-time data, and may be intendedfor relatively long-term retention (e.g., weeks, months or years),before some or all of the data is moved to other storage or isdiscarded.

In some cases, a secondary copy 116 is a copy of application datacreated and stored subsequent to at least one other stored instance(e.g., subsequent to corresponding primary data 112 or to anothersecondary copy 116), in a different storage device than at least oneprevious stored copy, and/or remotely from at least one previous storedcopy. In some other cases, secondary copies can be stored in the samestorage device as primary data 112 and/or other previously storedcopies. For example, in one embodiment a disk array capable ofperforming hardware snapshots stores primary data 112 and creates andstores hardware snapshots of the primary data 112 as secondary copies116. Secondary copies 116 may be stored in relatively slow and/or lowcost storage (e.g., magnetic tape). A secondary copy 116 may be storedin a backup or archive format, or in some other format different thanthe native source application format or other primary data format.

In some cases, secondary copies 116 are indexed so users can browse andrestore at another point in time. After creation of a secondary copy 116representative of certain primary data 112, a pointer or other locationindicia (e.g., a stub) may be placed in primary data 112, or beotherwise associated with primary data 112 to indicate the currentlocation on the secondary storage device(s) 108.

Since an instance of a data object or metadata in primary data 112 maychange over time as it is modified by an application 110 (or hostedservice or the operating system), the information management system 100may create and manage multiple secondary copies 116 of a particular dataobject or metadata, each representing the state of the data object inprimary data 112 at a particular point in time. Moreover, since aninstance of a data object in primary data 112 may eventually be deletedfrom the primary storage device 104 and the file system, the informationmanagement system 100 may continue to manage point-in-timerepresentations of that data object, even though the instance in primarydata 112 no longer exists.

For virtualized computing devices the operating system and otherapplications 110 of the client computing device(s) 102 may executewithin or under the management of virtualization software (e.g., a VMM),and the primary storage device(s) 104 may comprise a virtual diskcreated on a physical storage device. The information management system100 may create secondary copies 116 of the files or other data objectsin a virtual disk file and/or secondary copies 116 of the entire virtualdisk file itself (e.g., of an entire .vmdk file).

Secondary copies 116 may be distinguished from corresponding primarydata 112 in a variety of ways, some of which will now be described.First, as discussed, secondary copies 116 can be stored in a differentformat (e.g., backup, archive, or other non-native format) than primarydata 112. For this or other reasons, secondary copies 116 may not bedirectly useable by the applications 110 of the client computing device102, e.g., via standard system calls or otherwise without modification,processing, or other intervention by the information management system100.

Secondary copies 116 are also in some embodiments stored on a secondarystorage device 108 that is inaccessible to the applications 110 runningon the client computing devices 102 (and/or hosted services). Somesecondary copies 116 may be “offline copies,” in that they are notreadily available (e.g., not mounted to tape or disk). Offline copiescan include copies of data that the information management system 100can access without human intervention (e.g., tapes within an automatedtape library, but not yet mounted in a drive), and copies that theinformation management system 100 can access only with at least somehuman intervention (e.g., tapes located at an offsite storage site).

The Use of Intermediate Devices for Creating Secondary Copies

Creating secondary copies can be a challenging task. For instance, therecan be hundreds or thousands of client computing devices 102 continuallygenerating large volumes of primary data 112 to be protected. Also,there can be significant overhead involved in the creation of secondarycopies 116. Moreover, secondary storage devices 108 may be specialpurpose components, and interacting with them can require specializedintelligence.

In some cases, the client computing devices 102 interact directly withthe secondary storage device 108 to create the secondary copies 116.However, in view of the factors described above, this approach cannegatively impact the ability of the client computing devices 102 toserve the applications 110 and produce primary data 112. Further, theclient computing devices 102 may not be optimized for interaction withthe secondary storage devices 108.

Thus, in some embodiments, the information management system 100includes one or more software and/or hardware components which generallyact as intermediaries between the client computing devices 102 and thesecondary storage devices 108. In addition to off-loading certainresponsibilities from the client computing devices 102, theseintermediate components can provide other benefits. For instance, asdiscussed further below with respect to FIG. 1D, distributing some ofthe work involved in creating secondary copies 116 can enhancescalability.

The intermediate components can include one or more secondary storagecomputing devices 106 as shown in FIG. 1A and/or one or more mediaagents, which can be software modules residing on correspondingsecondary storage computing devices 106 (or other appropriate devices).Media agents are discussed below (e.g., with respect to FIGS. 1C-1E).

The secondary storage computing device(s) 106 can comprise any of thecomputing devices described above, without limitation. In some cases,the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 include specializedhardware and/or software componentry for interacting with the secondarystorage devices 108.

To create a secondary copy 116 involving the copying of data from theprimary storage subsystem 117 to the secondary storage subsystem 118,the client computing device 102 in some embodiments communicates theprimary data 112 to be copied (or a processed version thereof) to thedesignated secondary storage computing device 106, via the communicationpathway 114. The secondary storage computing device 106 in turn conveysthe received data (or a processed version thereof) to the secondarystorage device 108. In some such configurations, the communicationpathway 114 between the client computing device 102 and the secondarystorage computing device 106 comprises a portion of a LAN, WAN or SAN.In other cases, at least some client computing devices 102 communicatedirectly with the secondary storage devices 108 (e.g., via Fibre Channelor SCSI connections). In some other cases, one or more secondary copies116 are created from existing secondary copies, such as in the case ofan auxiliary copy operation, described in greater detail below.

Exemplary Primary Data and an Exemplary Secondary Copy

FIG. 1B is a detailed view showing some specific examples of primarydata stored on the primary storage device(s) 104 and secondary copy datastored on the secondary storage device(s) 108, with other components inthe system removed for the purposes of illustration. Stored on theprimary storage device(s) 104 are primary data objects including wordprocessing documents 119A-B, spreadsheets 120, presentation documents122, video files 124, image files 126, email mailboxes 128 (andcorresponding email messages 129A-C), html/xml or other types of markuplanguage files 130, databases 132 and corresponding tables or other datastructures 133A-133C).

Some or all primary data objects are associated with correspondingmetadata (e.g., “Meta1-11”), which may include file system metadataand/or application specific metadata. Stored on the secondary storagedevice(s) 108 are secondary copy data objects 134A-C which may includecopies of or otherwise represent corresponding primary data objects andmetadata.

As shown, the secondary copy data objects 134A-C can individuallyrepresent more than one primary data object. For example, secondary copydata object 134A represents three separate primary data objects 133C,122 and 129C (represented as 133C′, 122′ and 129C′, respectively, andaccompanied by the corresponding metadata Meta11, Meta3, and Meta8,respectively). Moreover, as indicated by the prime mark (′), a secondarycopy object may store a representation of a primary data object ormetadata differently than the original format, e.g., in a compressed,encrypted, deduplicated, or other modified format. Likewise, secondarydata object 134B represents primary data objects 120, 133B, and 119A as120′, 133B′, and 119A′, respectively and accompanied by correspondingmetadata Meta2, Meta10, and Meta1, respectively. Also, secondary dataobject 134C represents primary data objects 133A, 119B, and 129A as133A′, 119B′, and 129A′, respectively, accompanied by correspondingmetadata Meta9, Meta5, and Meta6, respectively.

Exemplary Information Management System Architecture

The information management system 100 can incorporate a variety ofdifferent hardware and software components, which can in turn beorganized with respect to one another in many different configurations,depending on the embodiment. There are critical design choices involvedin specifying the functional responsibilities of the components and therole of each component in the information management system 100. Forinstance, as will be discussed, such design choices can impactperformance as well as the adaptability of the information managementsystem 100 to data growth or other changing circumstances.

FIG. 10 shows an information management system 100 designed according tothese considerations and which includes: storage manager 140, acentralized storage and/or information manager that is configured toperform certain control functions, one or more data agents 142 executingon the client computing device(s) 102 configured to process primary data112, and one or more media agents 144 executing on the one or moresecondary storage computing devices 106 for performing tasks involvingthe secondary storage devices 108. While distributing functionalityamongst multiple computing devices can have certain advantages, in othercontexts it can be beneficial to consolidate functionality on the samecomputing device. As such, in various other embodiments, one or more ofthe components shown in FIG. 10 as being implemented on separatecomputing devices are implemented on the same computing device. In oneconfiguration, a storage manager 140, one or more data agents 142, andone or more media agents 144 are all implemented on the same computingdevice. In another embodiment, one or more data agents 142 and one ormore media agents 144 are implemented on the same computing device,while the storage manager 140 is implemented on a separate computingdevice.

Storage Manager

As noted, the number of components in the information management system100 and the amount of data under management can be quite large. Managingthe components and data is therefore a significant task, and a task thatcan grow in an often unpredictable fashion as the quantity of componentsand data scale to meet the needs of the organization.

For these and other reasons, according to certain embodiments,responsibility for controlling the information management system 100, orat least a significant portion of that responsibility, is allocated tothe storage manager 140.

By distributing control functionality in this manner, the storagemanager 140 can be adapted independently according to changingcircumstances. Moreover, a computing device for hosting the storagemanager 140 can be selected to best suit the functions of the storagemanager 140. These and other advantages are described in further detailbelow with respect to FIG. 1D.

The storage manager 140 may be a software module or other application.In some embodiments, storage manager 140 is a computing devicecomprising circuitry for executing computer instructions and performsthe functions described herein. The storage manager generally initiates,performs, coordinates and/or controls storage and other informationmanagement operations performed by the information management system100, e.g., to protect and control the primary data 112 and secondarycopies 116 of data and metadata.

As shown by the dashed arrowed lines 114, the storage manager 140 maycommunicate with and/or control some or all elements of the informationmanagement system 100, such as the data agents 142 and media agents 144.Thus, in certain embodiments, control information originates from thestorage manager 140, whereas payload data and payload metadata isgenerally communicated between the data agents 142 and the media agents144 (or otherwise between the client computing device(s) 102 and thesecondary storage computing device(s) 106), e.g., at the direction ofthe storage manager 140. Control information can generally includeparameters and instructions for carrying out information managementoperations, such as, without limitation, instructions to perform a taskassociated with an operation, timing information specifying when toinitiate a task associated with an operation, data path informationspecifying what components to communicate with or access in carrying outan operation, and the like. Payload data, on the other hand, can includethe actual data involved in the storage operation, such as content datawritten to a secondary storage device 108 in a secondary copy operation.Payload metadata can include any of the types of metadata describedherein, and may be written to a storage device along with the payloadcontent data (e.g., in the form of a header).

In other embodiments, some information management operations arecontrolled by other components in the information management system 100(e.g., the media agent(s) 144 or data agent(s) 142), instead of or incombination with the storage manager 140.

According to certain embodiments, the storage manager 140 provides oneor more of the following functions:

-   -   initiating execution of secondary copy operations;    -   managing secondary storage devices 108 and inventory/capacity of        the same;    -   reporting, searching, and/or classification of data in the        information management system 100;    -   allocating secondary storage devices 108 for secondary storage        operations;    -   monitoring completion of and providing status reporting related        to secondary storage operations;    -   tracking age information relating to secondary copies 116,        secondary storage devices 108, and comparing the age information        against retention guidelines;    -   tracking movement of data within the information management        system 100;    -   tracking logical associations between components in the        information management system 100;    -   protecting metadata associated with the information management        system 100; and    -   implementing operations management functionality.

The storage manager 140 may maintain a database 146 (or “storage managerdatabase 146” or “management database 146”) of management-related dataand information management policies 148. The database 146 may include amanagement index 150 (or “index 150”) or other data structure thatstores logical associations between components of the system, userpreferences and/or profiles (e.g., preferences regarding encryption,compression, or deduplication of primary or secondary copy data,preferences regarding the scheduling, type, or other aspects of primaryor secondary copy or other operations, mappings of particularinformation management users or user accounts to certain computingdevices or other components, etc.), management tasks, mediacontainerization, or other useful data. For example, the storage manager140 may use the index 150 to track logical associations between mediaagents 144 and secondary storage devices 108 and/or movement of datafrom primary storage devices 104 to secondary storage devices 108. Forinstance, the index 150 may store data associating a client computingdevice 102 with a particular media agent 144 and/or secondary storagedevice 108, as specified in an information management policy 148 (e.g.,a storage policy, which is defined in more detail below).

Administrators and other employees may be able to manually configure andinitiate certain information management operations on an individualbasis. But while this may be acceptable for some recovery operations orother relatively less frequent tasks, it is often not workable forimplementing on-going organization-wide data protection and management.

Thus, the information management system 100 may utilize informationmanagement policies 148 for specifying and executing informationmanagement operations (e.g., on an automated basis). Generally, aninformation management policy 148 can include a data structure or otherinformation source that specifies a set of parameters (e.g., criteriaand rules) associated with storage or other information managementoperations.

The storage manager database 146 may maintain the information managementpolicies 148 and associated data, although the information managementpolicies 148 can be stored in any appropriate location. For instance, aninformation management policy 148 such as a storage policy may be storedas metadata in a media agent database 152 or in a secondary storagedevice 108 (e.g., as an archive copy) for use in restore operations orother information management operations, depending on the embodiment.Information management policies 148 are described further below.

According to certain embodiments, the storage manager database 146comprises a relational database (e.g., an SQL database) for trackingmetadata, such as metadata associated with secondary copy operations(e.g., what client computing devices 102 and corresponding data wereprotected). This and other metadata may additionally be stored in otherlocations, such as at the secondary storage computing devices 106 or onthe secondary storage devices 108, allowing data recovery without theuse of the storage manager 140.

As shown, the storage manager 140 may include a jobs agent 156, a userinterface 158, and a management agent 154, all of which may beimplemented as interconnected software modules or application programs.

The jobs agent 156 in some embodiments initiates, controls, and/ormonitors the status of some or all storage or other informationmanagement operations previously performed, currently being performed,or scheduled to be performed by the information management system 100.For instance, the jobs agent 156 may access information managementpolicies 148 to determine when and how to initiate and control secondarycopy and other information management operations, as will be discussedfurther.

The user interface 158 may include information processing and displaysoftware, such as a graphical user interface (“GUI”), an applicationprogram interface (“API”), or other interactive interface(s) throughwhich users and system processes can retrieve information about thestatus of information management operations (e.g., storage operations)or issue instructions to the information management system 100 and itsconstituent components.

Via the user interface 158, users may optionally issue instructions tothe components in the information management system 100 regardingperformance of storage and recovery operations. For example, a user maymodify a schedule concerning the number of pending secondary copyoperations. As another example, a user may employ the GUI to view thestatus of pending storage operations or to monitor the status of certaincomponents in the information management system 100 (e.g., the amount ofcapacity left in a storage device).

An information management “cell” may generally include a logical and/orphysical grouping of a combination of hardware and software componentsassociated with performing information management operations onelectronic data, typically one storage manager 140 and at least oneclient computing device 102 (comprising data agent(s) 142) and at leastone media agent 144. For instance, the components shown in FIG. 10 maytogether form an information management cell. Multiple cells may beorganized hierarchically. With this configuration, cells may inheritproperties from hierarchically superior cells or be controlled by othercells in the hierarchy (automatically or otherwise). Alternatively, insome embodiments, cells may inherit or otherwise be associated withinformation management policies, preferences, information managementmetrics, or other properties or characteristics according to theirrelative position in a hierarchy of cells. Cells may also be delineatedand/or organized hierarchically according to function, geography,architectural considerations, or other factors useful or desirable inperforming information management operations. A first cell may representa geographic segment of an enterprise, such as a Chicago office, and asecond cell may represent a different geographic segment, such as a NewYork office. Other cells may represent departments within a particularoffice. Where delineated by function, a first cell may perform one ormore first types of information management operations (e.g., one or morefirst types of secondary or other copies), and a second cell may performone or more second types of information management operations (e.g., oneor more second types of secondary or other copies).

The storage manager 140 may also track information that permits it toselect, designate, or otherwise identify content indices, deduplicationdatabases, or similar databases or resources or data sets within itsinformation management cell (or another cell) to be searched in responseto certain queries. Such queries may be entered by the user viainteraction with the user interface 158. In general, the managementagent 154 allows multiple information management cells to communicatewith one another. For example, the information management system 100 insome cases may be one information management cell of a network ofmultiple cells adjacent to one another or otherwise logically related ina WAN or LAN. With this arrangement, the cells may be connected to oneanother through respective management agents 154.

For instance, the management agent 154 can provide the storage manager140 with the ability to communicate with other components within theinformation management system 100 (and/or other cells within a largerinformation management system) via network protocols and applicationprogramming interfaces (“APIs”) including, e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, REST,virtualization software APIs, cloud service provider APIs, and hostedservice provider APIs. Inter-cell communication and hierarchy isdescribed in greater detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,747,579 and 7,343,453,which are incorporated by reference herein.

Data Agents

As discussed, a variety of different types of applications 110 canreside on a given client computing device 102, including operatingsystems, database applications, e-mail applications, and virtualmachines, just to name a few. And, as part of the process of creatingand restoring secondary copies 116, the client computing devices 102 maybe tasked with processing and preparing the primary data 112 from thesevarious different applications 110. Moreover, the nature of theprocessing/preparation can differ across clients and application types,e.g., due to inherent structural and formatting differences betweenapplications 110.

The one or more data agent(s) 142 are therefore advantageouslyconfigured in some embodiments to assist in the performance ofinformation management operations based on the type of data that isbeing protected, at a client-specific and/or application-specific level.

The data agent 142 may be a software module or component that isgenerally responsible for managing, initiating, or otherwise assistingin the performance of information management operations. For instance,the data agent 142 may take part in performing data storage operationssuch as the copying, archiving, migrating, replicating of primary data112 stored in the primary storage device(s) 104. The data agent 142 mayreceive control information from the storage manager 140, such ascommands to transfer copies of data objects, metadata, and other payloaddata to the media agents 144.

In some embodiments, a data agent 142 may be distributed between theclient computing device 102 and storage manager 140 (and any otherintermediate components) or may be deployed from a remote location orits functions approximated by a remote process that performs some or allof the functions of data agent 142. In addition, a data agent 142 mayperform some functions provided by a media agent 144, or may performother functions such as encryption and deduplication.

As indicated, each data agent 142 may be specialized for a particularapplication 110, and the system can employ multiple application-specificdata agents 142, each of which may perform information managementoperations (e.g., perform backup, migration, and data recovery)associated with a different application 110. For instance, differentindividual data agents 142 may be designed to handle Microsoft Exchangedata, Lotus Notes data, Microsoft Windows file system data, MicrosoftActive Directory Objects data, SQL Server data, SharePoint data, Oracledatabase data, SAP database data, virtual machines and/or associateddata, and other types of data.

A file system data agent, for example, may handle data files and/orother file system information. If a client computing device 102 has twoor more types of data, one data agent 142 may be used for each data typeto copy, archive, migrate, and restore the client computing device 102data. For example, to backup, migrate, and restore all of the data on aMicrosoft Exchange server, the client computing device 102 may use oneMicrosoft Exchange Mailbox data agent 142 to backup the Exchangemailboxes, one Microsoft Exchange Database data agent 142 to backup theExchange databases, one Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data agent 142to backup the Exchange Public Folders, and one Microsoft Windows FileSystem data agent 142 to backup the file system of the client computingdevice 102. In such embodiments, these data agents 142 may be treated asfour separate data agents 142 even though they reside on the same clientcomputing device 102.

Other embodiments may employ one or more generic data agents 142 thatcan handle and process data from two or more different applications 110,or that can handle and process multiple data types, instead of or inaddition to using specialized data agents 142. For example, one genericdata agent 142 may be used to back up, migrate and restore MicrosoftExchange Mailbox data and Microsoft Exchange Database data while anothergeneric data agent may handle Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data andMicrosoft Windows File System data.

Each data agent 142 may be configured to access data and/or metadatastored in the primary storage device(s) 104 associated with the dataagent 142 and process the data as appropriate. For example, during asecondary copy operation, the data agent 142 may arrange or assemble thedata and metadata into one or more files having a certain format (e.g.,a particular backup or archive format) before transferring the file(s)to a media agent 144 or other component. The file(s) may include a listof files or other metadata. Each data agent 142 can also assist inrestoring data or metadata to primary storage devices 104 from asecondary copy 116. For instance, the data agent 142 may operate inconjunction with the storage manager 140 and one or more of the mediaagents 144 to restore data from secondary storage device(s) 108.

Media Agents

As indicated above with respect to FIG. 1A, off-loading certainresponsibilities from the client computing devices 102 to intermediatecomponents such as the media agent(s) 144 can provide a number ofbenefits including improved client computing device 102 operation,faster secondary copy operation performance, and enhanced scalability.As one specific example which will be discussed below in further detail,the media agent 144 can act as a local cache of copied data and/ormetadata that it has stored to the secondary storage device(s) 108,providing improved restore capabilities.

Generally speaking, a media agent 144 may be implemented as a softwaremodule that manages, coordinates, and facilitates the transmission ofdata, as directed by the storage manager 140, between a client computingdevice 102 and one or more secondary storage devices 108. Whereas thestorage manager 140 controls the operation of the information managementsystem 100, the media agent 144 generally provides a portal to secondarystorage devices 108. For instance, other components in the systeminteract with the media agents 144 to gain access to data stored on thesecondary storage devices 108, whether it be for the purposes ofreading, writing, modifying, or deleting data. Moreover, as will bedescribed further, media agents 144 can generate and store informationrelating to characteristics of the stored data and/or metadata, or cangenerate and store other types of information that generally providesinsight into the contents of the secondary storage devices 108.

Media agents 144 can comprise separate nodes in the informationmanagement system 100 (e.g., nodes that are separate from the clientcomputing devices 102, storage manager 140, and/or secondary storagedevices 108). In general, a node within the information managementsystem 100 can be a logically and/or physically separate component, andin some cases is a component that is individually addressable orotherwise identifiable. In addition, each media agent 144 may reside ona dedicated secondary storage computing device 106 in some cases, whilein other embodiments a plurality of media agents 144 reside on the samesecondary storage computing device 106.

A media agent 144 (and corresponding media agent database 152) may beconsidered to be “associated with” a particular secondary storage device108 if that media agent 144 is capable of one or more of: routing and/orstoring data to the particular secondary storage device 108,coordinating the routing and/or storing of data to the particularsecondary storage device 108, retrieving data from the particularsecondary storage device 108, coordinating the retrieval of data from aparticular secondary storage device 108, and modifying and/or deletingdata retrieved from the particular secondary storage device 108.

While media agent(s) 144 are generally associated with one or moresecondary storage devices 108, one or more media agents 144 in certainembodiments are physically separate from the secondary storage devices108. For instance, the media agents 144 may reside on secondary storagecomputing devices 106 having different housings or packages than thesecondary storage devices 108. In one example, a media agent 144 resideson a first server computer and is in communication with a secondarystorage device(s) 108 residing in a separate, rack-mounted RAID-basedsystem.

Where the information management system 100 includes multiple mediaagents 144 (FIG. 1D), a first media agent 144 may provide failoverfunctionality for a second, failed media agent 144. In addition, mediaagents 144 can be dynamically selected for storage operations to provideload balancing. Failover and load balancing are described in greaterdetail below.

In operation, a media agent 144 associated with a particular secondarystorage device 108 may instruct the secondary storage device 108 toperform an information management operation. For instance, a media agent144 may instruct a tape library to use a robotic arm or other retrievalmeans to load or eject a certain storage media, and to subsequentlyarchive, migrate, or retrieve data to or from that media, e.g., for thepurpose of restoring the data to a client computing device 102. Asanother example, a secondary storage device 108 may include an array ofhard disk drives or solid state drives organized in a RAIDconfiguration, and the media agent 144 may forward a logical unit number(LUN) and other appropriate information to the array, which uses thereceived information to execute the desired storage operation. The mediaagent 144 may communicate with a secondary storage device 108 via asuitable communications link, such as a SCSI or Fiber Channel link.

As shown, each media agent 144 may maintain an associated media agentdatabase 152. The media agent database 152 may be stored in a disk orother storage device (not shown) that is local to the secondary storagecomputing device 106 on which the media agent 144 resides. In othercases, the media agent database 152 is stored remotely from thesecondary storage computing device 106.

The media agent database 152 can include, among other things, an index153 including data generated during secondary copy operations and otherstorage or information management operations. The index 153 provides amedia agent 144 or other component with a fast and efficient mechanismfor locating secondary copies 116 or other data stored in the secondarystorage devices 108. In some cases, the index 153 does not form a partof and is instead separate from the media agent database 152.

A media agent index 153 or other data structure associated with theparticular media agent 144 may include information about the storeddata. For instance, for each secondary copy 116, the index 153 mayinclude metadata such as a list of the data objects (e.g.,files/subdirectories, database objects, mailbox objects, etc.), a pathto the secondary copy 116 on the corresponding secondary storage device108, location information indicating where the data objects are storedin the secondary storage device 108, when the data objects were createdor modified, etc. Thus, the index 153 includes metadata associated withthe secondary copies 116 that is readily available for use in storageoperations and other activities without having to be first retrievedfrom the secondary storage device 108. In yet further embodiments, someor all of the data in the index 153 may instead or additionally bestored along with the data in a secondary storage device 108, e.g., witha copy of the index 153. In some embodiments, the secondary storagedevices 108 can include sufficient information to perform a “bare metalrestore”, where the operating system of a failed client computing device102 or other restore target is automatically rebuilt as part of arestore operation.

Because the index 153 maintained in the media agent database 152 mayoperate as a cache, it can also be referred to as “an index cache.” Insuch cases, information stored in the index cache 153 typicallycomprises data that reflects certain particulars about storageoperations that have occurred relatively recently. After some triggeringevent, such as after a certain period of time elapses, or the indexcache 153 reaches a particular size, the index cache 153 may be copiedor migrated to a secondary storage device(s) 108. This information mayneed to be retrieved and uploaded back into the index cache 153 orotherwise restored to a media agent 144 to facilitate retrieval of datafrom the secondary storage device(s) 108. In some embodiments, thecached information may include format or containerization informationrelated to archives or other files stored on the storage device(s) 108.In this manner, the index cache 153 allows for accelerated restores.

In some alternative embodiments the media agent 144 generally acts as acoordinator or facilitator of storage operations between clientcomputing devices 102 and corresponding secondary storage devices 108,but does not actually write the data to the secondary storage device108. For instance, the storage manager 140 (or the media agent 144) mayinstruct a client computing device 102 and secondary storage device 108to communicate with one another directly. In such a case the clientcomputing device 102 transmits the data directly or via one or moreintermediary components to the secondary storage device 108 according tothe received instructions, and vice versa. In some such cases, the mediaagent 144 may still receive, process, and/or maintain metadata relatedto the storage operations. Moreover, in these embodiments, the payloaddata can flow through the media agent 144 for the purposes of populatingthe index cache 153 maintained in the media agent database 152, but notfor writing to the secondary storage device 108.

The media agent 144 and/or other components such as the storage manager140 may in some cases incorporate additional functionality, such as dataclassification, content indexing, deduplication, encryption,compression, and the like. Further details regarding these and otherfunctions are described below.

Distributed, Scalable Architecture

As described, certain functions of the information management system 100can be distributed amongst various physical and/or logical components inthe system. For instance, one or more of the storage manager 140, dataagents 142, and media agents 144 may reside on computing devices thatare physically separate from one another. This architecture can providea number of benefits.

For instance, hardware and software design choices for each distributedcomponent can be targeted to suit its particular function. The secondarycomputing devices 106 on which the media agents 144 reside can betailored for interaction with associated secondary storage devices 108and provide fast index cache operation, among other specific tasks.Similarly, the client computing device(s) 102 can be selected toeffectively service the applications 110 residing thereon, in order toefficiently produce and store primary data 112.

Moreover, in some cases, one or more of the individual components in theinformation management system 100 can be distributed to multiple,separate computing devices. As one example, for large file systems wherethe amount of data stored in the database 146 is relatively large, thedatabase 146 may be migrated to or otherwise reside on a specializeddatabase server (e.g., an SQL server) separate from a server thatimplements the other functions of the storage manager 140. Thisconfiguration can provide added protection because the database 146 canbe protected with standard database utilities (e.g., SQL log shipping ordatabase replication) independent from other functions of the storagemanager 140. The database 146 can be efficiently replicated to a remotesite for use in the event of a disaster or other data loss incident atthe primary site. Or the database 146 can be replicated to anothercomputing device within the same site, such as to a higher performancemachine in the event that a storage manager host device can no longerservice the needs of a growing information management system 100.

The distributed architecture also provides both scalability andefficient component utilization. FIG. 1D shows an embodiment of theinformation management system 100 including a plurality of clientcomputing devices 102 and associated data agents 142 as well as aplurality of secondary storage computing devices 106 and associatedmedia agents 144.

Additional components can be added or subtracted based on the evolvingneeds of the information management system 100. For instance, dependingon where bottlenecks are identified, administrators can add additionalclient computing devices 102, secondary storage computing devices 106(and corresponding media agents 144), and/or secondary storage devices108. Moreover, where multiple fungible components are available, loadbalancing can be implemented to dynamically address identifiedbottlenecks. As an example, the storage manager 140 may dynamicallyselect which media agents 144 and/or secondary storage devices 108 touse for storage operations based on a processing load analysis of themedia agents 144 and/or secondary storage devices 108, respectively.

Moreover, each client computing device 102 in some embodiments cancommunicate with, among other components, any of the media agents 144,e.g., as directed by the storage manager 140. And each media agent 144may be able to communicate with, among other components, any of thesecondary storage devices 108, e.g., as directed by the storage manager140. Thus, operations can be routed to the secondary storage devices 108in a dynamic and highly flexible manner, to provide load balancing,failover, and the like. Further examples of scalable systems capable ofdynamic storage operations, and of systems capable of performing loadbalancing and fail over are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,207, whichis incorporated by reference herein.

In alternative configurations, certain components are not distributedand may instead reside and execute on the same computing device. Forexample, in some embodiments one or more data agents 142 and the storagemanager 140 reside on the same client computing device 102. In anotherembodiment, one or more data agents 142 and one or more media agents 144reside on a single computing device.

Exemplary Types of Information Management Operations

In order to protect and leverage stored data, the information managementsystem 100 can be configured to perform a variety of informationmanagement operations. As will be described, these operations cangenerally include secondary copy and other data movement operations,processing and data manipulation operations, analysis, reporting, andmanagement operations. The operations described herein may be performedon any type of computing platform, e.g., between two computers connectedvia a LAN, to a mobile client telecommunications device connected to aserver via a WLAN, to any manner of client device coupled to a cloudstorage target.

Data Movement Operations

Data movement operations according to certain embodiments are generallyoperations that involve the copying or migration of data (e.g., payloaddata) between different locations in the information management system100 in an original/native and/or one or more different formats. Forexample, data movement operations can include operations in which storeddata is copied, migrated, or otherwise transferred from one or morefirst storage devices to one or more second storage devices, such asfrom primary storage device(s) 104 to secondary storage device(s) 108,from secondary storage device(s) 108 to different secondary storagedevice(s) 108, from secondary storage devices 108 to primary storagedevices 104, or from primary storage device(s) 104 to different primarystorage device(s) 104.

Data movement operations can include by way of example, backupoperations, archive operations, information lifecycle managementoperations such as hierarchical storage management operations,replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication operations),snapshot operations, deduplication or single-instancing operations,auxiliary copy operations, and the like. As will be discussed, some ofthese operations involve the copying, migration or other movement ofdata, without actually creating multiple, distinct copies. Nonetheless,some or all of these operations are referred to as “copy” operations forsimplicity.

Backup Operations

A backup operation creates a copy of a version of data (e.g., one ormore files or other data units) in primary data 112 at a particularpoint in time. Each subsequent backup copy may be maintainedindependently of the first. Further, a backup copy in some embodimentsis generally stored in a form that is different than the native format,e.g., a backup format. This can be in contrast to the version in primarydata 112 from which the backup copy is derived, and which may instead bestored in a native format of the source application(s) 110. In variouscases, backup copies can be stored in a format in which the data iscompressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwise modified from theoriginal application format. For example, a backup copy may be stored ina backup format that facilitates compression and/or efficient long-termstorage.

Backup copies can have relatively long retention periods as compared toprimary data 112, and may be stored on media with slower retrieval timesthan primary data 112 and certain other types of secondary copies 116.On the other hand, backups may have relatively shorter retention periodsthan some other types of secondary copies 116, such as archive copies(described below). Backups may sometimes be stored at on offsitelocation.

Backup operations can include full, synthetic or incremental backups. Afull backup in some embodiments is generally a complete image of thedata to be protected. However, because full backup copies can consume arelatively large amount of storage, it can be useful to use a fullbackup copy as a baseline and only store changes relative to the fullbackup copy for subsequent backup copies.

For instance, a differential backup operation (or cumulative incrementalbackup operation) tracks and stores changes that have occurred since thelast full backup. Differential backups can grow quickly in size, but canprovide relatively efficient restore times because a restore can becompleted in some cases using only the full backup copy and the latestdifferential copy.

An incremental backup operation generally tracks and stores changessince the most recent backup copy of any type, which can greatly reducestorage utilization. In some cases, however, restore times can berelatively long in comparison to full or differential backups becausecompleting a restore operation may involve accessing a full backup inaddition to multiple incremental backups.

Any of the above types of backup operations can be at the volume-level,file-level, or block-level. Volume level backup operations generallyinvolve the copying of a data volume (e.g., a logical disk or partition)as a whole. In a file-level backup, the information management system100 may generally track changes to individual files at the file-level,and includes copies of files in the backup copy. In the case of ablock-level backup, files are broken into constituent blocks, andchanges are tracked at the block-level. Upon restore, the informationmanagement system 100 reassembles the blocks into files in a transparentfashion.

Far less data may actually be transferred and copied to the secondarystorage devices 108 during a file-level copy than a volume-level copy.Likewise, a block-level copy may involve the transfer of less data thana file-level copy, resulting in faster execution times. However,restoring a relatively higher-granularity copy can result in longerrestore times. For instance, when restoring a block-level copy, theprocess of locating constituent blocks can sometimes result in longerrestore times as compared to file-level backups. Similar to backupoperations, the other types of secondary copy operations describedherein can also be implemented at either the volume-level, file-level,or block-level.

Archive Operations

Because backup operations generally involve maintaining a version of thecopied data in primary data 112 and also maintaining backup copies insecondary storage device(s) 108, they can consume significant storagecapacity. To help reduce storage consumption, an archive operationaccording to certain embodiments creates a secondary copy 116 by bothcopying and removing source data. Or, seen another way, archiveoperations can involve moving some or all of the source data to thearchive destination. Thus, data satisfying criteria for removal (e.g.,data of a threshold age or size) from the source copy may be removedfrom source storage. Archive copies are sometimes stored in an archiveformat or other non-native application format. The source data may beprimary data 112 or a secondary copy 116, depending on the situation. Aswith backup copies, archive copies can be stored in a format in whichthe data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwisemodified from the original application format.

In addition, archive copies may be retained for relatively long periodsof time (e.g., years) and, in some cases, are never deleted. Archivecopies are generally retained for longer periods of time than backupcopies, for example. In certain embodiments, archive copies may be madeand kept for extended periods in order to meet compliance regulations.

Moreover, when primary data 112 is archived, in some cases the archivedprimary data 112 or a portion thereof is deleted when creating thearchive copy. Thus, archiving can serve the purpose of freeing up spacein the primary storage device(s) 104. Similarly, when a secondary copy116 is archived, the secondary copy 116 may be deleted, and an archivecopy can therefore serve the purpose of freeing up space in secondarystorage device(s) 108. In contrast, source copies often remain intactwhen creating backup copies. Examples of compatible data archivingoperations are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,298, which isincorporated by reference herein.

Snapshot Operations

Snapshot operations can provide a relatively lightweight, efficientmechanism for protecting data. From an end-user viewpoint, a snapshotmay be thought of as an “instant” image of the primary data 112 at agiven point in time. In one embodiment, a snapshot may generally capturethe directory structure of an object in primary data 112 such as a fileor volume or other data set at a particular moment in time and may alsopreserve file attributes and contents. A snapshot in some cases iscreated relatively quickly, e.g., substantially instantly, using aminimum amount of file space, but may still function as a conventionalfile system backup.

A “hardware” snapshot operation can be a snapshot operation where atarget storage device (e.g., a primary storage device 104 or a secondarystorage device 108) performs the snapshot operation in a self-containedfashion, substantially independently, using hardware, firmware and/orsoftware residing on the storage device itself. For instance, thestorage device may be capable of performing snapshot operations uponrequest, generally without intervention or oversight from any of theother components in the information management system 100. In thismanner, using hardware snapshots can off-load processing involved insnapshot creation and management from other components in the system100.

A “software” snapshot operation, on the other hand, can be a snapshotoperation in which one or more other components in the system (e.g., theclient computing devices 102, data agents 142, etc.) implement asoftware layer that manages the snapshot operation via interaction withthe target storage device. For instance, the component implementing thesnapshot management software layer may derive a set of pointers and/ordata that represents the snapshot. The snapshot management softwarelayer may then transmit the same to the target storage device, alongwith appropriate instructions for writing the snapshot.

Some types of snapshots do not actually create another physical copy ofall the data as it existed at the particular point in time, but maysimply create pointers that are able to map files and directories tospecific memory locations (e.g., to specific disk blocks) where the dataresides, as it existed at the particular point in time. For example, asnapshot copy may include a set of pointers derived from the file systemor an application. In some other cases, the snapshot may be created atthe block-level, such as where creation of the snapshot occurs withoutawareness of the file system. Each pointer points to a respective storeddata block, so collectively, the set of pointers reflect the storagelocation and state of the data object (e.g., file(s) or volume(s) ordata set(s)) at a particular point in time when the snapshot copy wascreated.

Once a snapshot has been taken, subsequent changes to the file systemtypically do not overwrite the blocks in use at the time of thesnapshot. Therefore, the initial snapshot may use only a small amount ofdisk space needed to record a mapping or other data structurerepresenting or otherwise tracking the blocks that correspond to thecurrent state of the file system. Additional disk space is usuallyrequired only when files and directories are actually later modified.Furthermore, when files are modified, typically only the pointers whichmap to blocks are copied, not the blocks themselves. In someembodiments, for example in the case of “copy-on-write” snapshots, whena block changes in primary storage, the block is copied to secondarystorage or cached in primary storage before the block is overwritten inprimary storage, and the pointer to that block changed to reflect thenew location of that block. The snapshot mapping of file system data mayalso be updated to reflect the changed block(s) at that particular pointin time. In some other cases, a snapshot includes a full physical copyof all or substantially all of the data represented by the snapshot.Further examples of snapshot operations are provided in U.S. Pat. No.7,529,782, which is incorporated by reference herein.

A snapshot copy in many cases can be made quickly and withoutsignificantly impacting primary computing resources because largeamounts of data need not be copied or moved. In some embodiments, asnapshot may exist as a virtual file system, parallel to the actual filesystem. Users in some cases gain read-only access to the record of filesand directories of the snapshot. By electing to restore primary data 112from a snapshot taken at a given point in time, users may also returnthe current file system to the state of the file system that existedwhen the snapshot was taken.

Replication Operations

Another type of secondary copy operation is a replication operation.Some types of secondary copies 116 are used to periodically captureimages of primary data 112 at particular points in time (e.g., backups,archives, and snapshots). However, it can also be useful for recoverypurposes to protect primary data 112 in a more continuous fashion, byreplicating the primary data 112 substantially as changes occur. In somecases a replication copy can be a mirror copy, for instance, wherechanges made to primary data 112 are mirrored or substantiallyimmediately copied to another location (e.g., to secondary storagedevice(s) 108). By copying each write operation to the replication copy,two storage systems are kept synchronized or substantially synchronizedso that they are virtually identical at approximately the same time.Where entire disk volumes are mirrored, however, mirroring can requiresignificant amount of storage space and utilizes a large amount ofprocessing resources.

According to some embodiments storage operations are performed onreplicated data that represents a recoverable state, or “known goodstate” of a particular application running on the source system. Forinstance, in certain embodiments, known good replication copies may beviewed as copies of primary data 112. This feature allows the system todirectly access, copy, restore, backup or otherwise manipulate thereplication copies as if the data was the “live”, primary data 112. Thiscan reduce access time, storage utilization, and impact on sourceapplications 110, among other benefits.

Based on known good state information, the information management system100 can replicate sections of application data that represent arecoverable state rather than rote copying of blocks of data. Examplesof compatible replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication)are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262, which is incorporated byreference herein.

Deduplication/Single-Instancing Operations

Another type of data movement operation is deduplication orsingle-instance storage, which is useful to reduce the amount of datawithin the system. For instance, some or all of the above-describedsecondary storage operations can involve deduplication in some fashion.New data is read, broken down into portions (e.g., sub-file levelblocks, files, etc.) of a selected granularity, compared with blocksthat are already stored, and only the new blocks are stored. Blocks thatalready exist are represented as pointers to the already stored data.

In order to streamline the comparison process, the informationmanagement system 100 may calculate and/or store signatures (e.g.,hashes or cryptographically unique IDs) corresponding to the individualdata blocks in a database and compare the signatures instead ofcomparing entire data blocks. In some cases, only a single instance ofeach element is stored, and deduplication operations may therefore bereferred to interchangeably as “single-instancing” operations. Dependingon the implementation, however, deduplication or single-instancingoperations can store more than one instance of certain data blocks, butnonetheless significantly reduce data redundancy.

Depending on the embodiment, deduplication blocks can be of fixed orvariable length. Using variable length blocks can provide enhanceddeduplication by responding to changes in the data stream, but caninvolve complex processing. In some cases, the information managementsystem 100 utilizes a technique for dynamically aligning deduplicationblocks (e.g., fixed-length blocks) based on changing content in the datastream, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,364,652, which is incorporatedby reference herein.

The information management system 100 can perform deduplication in avariety of manners at a variety of locations in the informationmanagement system 100. For instance, in some embodiments, theinformation management system 100 implements “target-side” deduplicationby deduplicating data (e.g., secondary copies 116) stored in thesecondary storage devices 108. In some such cases, the media agents 144are generally configured to manage the deduplication process. Forinstance, one or more of the media agents 144 maintain a correspondingdeduplication database that stores deduplication information (e.g.,datablock signatures). Examples of such a configuration are provided inU.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150826, which is incorporated by referenceherein. Instead of or in combination with “target-side” deduplication,deduplication can also be performed on the “source-side” (or“client-side”), e.g., to reduce the amount of traffic between the mediaagents 144 and the client computing device(s) 102 and/or reduceredundant data stored in the primary storage devices 104. According tovarious implementations, one or more of the storage devices of thetarget-side, source-side, or client-side of an operation can becloud-based storage devices. Thus, the target-side, source-side, and/orclient-side deduplication can be cloud-based deduplication. Inparticular, as discussed previously, the storage manager 140 maycommunicate with other components within the information managementsystem 100 via network protocols and cloud service provider APIs tofacilitate cloud-based deduplication/single instancing. Examples of suchdeduplication techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. Pub. No.2012/0150818, which is incorporated by reference herein. Some othercompatible deduplication/single instancing techniques are described inU.S. Pat. Pub. Nos. 2006/0224846 and 2009/0319534, which areincorporated by reference herein.

Information Lifecycle Management and Hierarchical Storage ManagementOperations

In some embodiments, files and other data over their lifetime move frommore expensive, quick access storage to less expensive, slower accessstorage. Operations associated with moving data through various tiers ofstorage are sometimes referred to as information lifecycle management(ILM) operations.

One type of ILM operation is a hierarchical storage management (HSM)operation. A HSM operation is generally an operation for automaticallymoving data between classes of storage devices, such as betweenhigh-cost and low-cost storage devices. For instance, an HSM operationmay involve movement of data from primary storage devices 104 tosecondary storage devices 108, or between tiers of secondary storagedevices 108. With each tier, the storage devices may be progressivelyrelatively cheaper, have relatively slower access/restore times, etc.For example, movement of data between tiers may occur as data becomesless important over time.

In some embodiments, an HSM operation is similar to an archive operationin that creating an HSM copy may (though not always) involve deletingsome of the source data, e.g., according to one or more criteria relatedto the source data. For example, an HSM copy may include data fromprimary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 that is larger than a givensize threshold or older than a given age threshold and that is stored ina backup format.

Often, and unlike some types of archive copies, HSM data that is removedor aged from the source copy is replaced by a logical reference pointeror stub. The reference pointer or stub can be stored in the primarystorage device 104 (or other source storage device, such as a secondarystorage device 108) to replace the deleted data in primary data 112 (orother source copy) and to point to or otherwise indicate the newlocation in a secondary storage device 108.

According to one example, files are generally moved between higher andlower cost storage depending on how often the files are accessed. When auser requests access to the HSM data that has been removed or migrated,the information management system 100 uses the stub to locate the dataand often make recovery of the data appear transparent, even though theHSM data may be stored at a location different from the remaining sourcedata. In this manner, the data appears to the user (e.g., in file systembrowsing windows and the like) as if it still resides in the sourcelocation (e.g., in a primary storage device 104). The stub may alsoinclude some metadata associated with the corresponding data, so that afile system and/or application can provide some information about thedata object and/or a limited-functionality version (e.g., a preview) ofthe data object.

An HSM copy may be stored in a format other than the native applicationformat (e.g., where the data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated,and/or otherwise modified from the original application format). In somecases, copies which involve the removal of data from source storage andthe maintenance of stub or other logical reference information on sourcestorage may be referred to generally as “on-line archive copies”. On theother hand, copies which involve the removal of data from source storagewithout the maintenance of stub or other logical reference informationon source storage may be referred to as “off-line archive copies”.Examples of HSM and ILM techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. No.7,343,453, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Auxiliary Copy and Disaster Recovery Operations

An auxiliary copy is generally a copy operation in which a copy iscreated of an existing secondary copy 116. For instance, an initialsecondary copy 116 may be generated using or otherwise be derived fromprimary data 112 (or other data residing in the secondary storagesubsystem 118), whereas an auxiliary copy is generated from the initialsecondary copy 116. Auxiliary copies can be used to create additionalstandby copies of data and may reside on different secondary storagedevices 108 than the initial secondary copies 116. Thus, auxiliarycopies can be used for recovery purposes if initial secondary copies 116become unavailable. Exemplary compatible auxiliary copy techniques aredescribed in further detail in U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195, which isincorporated by reference herein.

The information management system 100 may also perform disaster recoveryoperations that make or retain disaster recovery copies, often assecondary, high-availability disk copies. The information managementsystem 100 may create secondary disk copies and store the copies atdisaster recovery locations using auxiliary copy or replicationoperations, such as continuous data replication technologies. Dependingon the particular data protection goals, disaster recovery locations canbe remote from the client computing devices 102 and primary storagedevices 104, remote from some or all of the secondary storage devices108, or both.

Data Analysis, Reporting, and Management Operations

Data analysis, reporting, and management operations can be differentthan data movement operations in that they do not necessarily involvethe copying, migration or other transfer of data (e.g., primary data 112or secondary copies 116) between different locations in the system. Forinstance, data analysis operations may involve processing (e.g., offlineprocessing) or modification of already stored primary data 112 and/orsecondary copies 116. However, in some embodiments data analysisoperations are performed in conjunction with data movement operations.Some data analysis operations include content indexing operations andclassification operations which can be useful in leveraging the dataunder management to provide enhanced search and other features. Otherdata analysis operations such as compression and encryption can providedata reduction and security benefits, respectively.

Classification Operations/Content Indexing

In some embodiments, the information management system 100 analyzes andindexes characteristics, content, and metadata associated with the datastored within the primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116,providing enhanced search and management capabilities for data discoveryand other purposes. The content indexing can be used to identify filesor other data objects having pre-defined content (e.g., user-definedkeywords or phrases, other keywords/phrases that are not defined by auser, etc.), and/or metadata (e.g., email metadata such as “to”, “from”,“cc”, “bcc”, attachment name, received time, etc.).

The information management system 100 generally organizes and cataloguesthe results in a content index, which may be stored within the mediaagent database 152, for example. The content index can also include thestorage locations of (or pointer references to) the indexed data in theprimary data 112 or secondary copies 116, as appropriate. The resultsmay also be stored, in the form of a content index database orotherwise, elsewhere in the information management system 100 (e.g., inthe primary storage devices 104, or in the secondary storage device108). Such index data provides the storage manager 140 or anothercomponent with an efficient mechanism for locating primary data 112and/or secondary copies 116 of data objects that match particularcriteria.

For instance, search criteria can be specified by a user through userinterface 158 of the storage manager 140. In some cases, the informationmanagement system 100 analyzes data and/or metadata in secondary copies116 to create an “off-line” content index, without significantlyimpacting the performance of the client computing devices 102. Dependingon the embodiment, the system can also implement “on-line” contentindexing, e.g., of primary data 112. Examples of compatible contentindexing techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995, which isincorporated by reference herein.

In order to further leverage the data stored in the informationmanagement system 100 to perform these and other tasks, one or morecomponents can be configured to scan data and/or associated metadata forclassification purposes to populate a database (or other data structure)of information (which can be referred to as a “data classificationdatabase” or a “metabase”). Depending on the embodiment, the dataclassification database(s) can be organized in a variety of differentways, including centralization, logical sub-divisions, and/or physicalsub-divisions. For instance, one or more centralized data classificationdatabases may be associated with different subsystems or tiers withinthe information management system 100. As an example, there may be afirst centralized metabase associated with the primary storage subsystem117 and a second centralized metabase associated with the secondarystorage subsystem 118. In other cases, there may be one or moremetabases associated with individual components. For instance, there maybe a dedicated metabase associated with some or all of the clientcomputing devices 102 and/or media agents 144. In some embodiments, adata classification database may reside as one or more data structureswithin management database 146, or may be otherwise associated withstorage manager 140.

In some cases, the metabase(s) may be included in separate database(s)and/or on separate storage device(s) from primary data 112 and/orsecondary copies 116, such that operations related to the metabase donot significantly impact performance on other components in theinformation management system 100. In other cases, the metabase(s) maybe stored along with primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116. Filesor other data objects can be associated with identifiers (e.g., tagentries, etc.) in the media agent 144 (or other indices) to facilitatesearches of stored data objects. Among a number of other benefits, themetabase can also allow efficient, automatic identification of files orother data objects to associate with secondary copy or other informationmanagement operations (e.g., in lieu of scanning an entire file system).Examples of compatible metabases and data classification operations areprovided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,229,954 and 7,747,579, which areincorporated by reference herein.

Encryption Operations

The information management system 100 in some cases is configured toprocess data (e.g., files or other data objects, secondary copies 116,etc.), according to an appropriate encryption algorithm (e.g., Blowfish,Advanced Encryption Standard [AES], Triple Data Encryption Standard[3-DES], etc.) to limit access and provide data security in theinformation management system 100.

The information management system 100 in some cases encrypts the data atthe client level, such that the client computing devices 102 (e.g., thedata agents 142) encrypt the data prior to forwarding the data to othercomponents, e.g., before sending the data to media agents 144 during asecondary copy operation. In such cases, the client computing device 102may maintain or have access to an encryption key or passphrase fordecrypting the data upon restore. Encryption can also occur whencreating copies of secondary copies, e.g., when creating auxiliarycopies or archive copies. In yet further embodiments, the secondarystorage devices 108 can implement built-in, high performance hardwareencryption.

Management and Reporting Operations

Certain embodiments leverage the integrated, ubiquitous nature of theinformation management system 100 to provide useful system-widemanagement and reporting functions. Examples of some compatiblemanagement and reporting techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. No.7,343,453, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Operations management can generally include monitoring and managing thehealth and performance of information management system 100 by, withoutlimitation, performing error tracking, generating granularstorage/performance metrics (e.g., job success/failure information,deduplication efficiency, etc.), generating storage modeling and costinginformation, and the like.

As an example, a storage manager 140 or other component in theinformation management system 100 may analyze traffic patterns andsuggest or automatically route data via a particular route to e.g.,certain facilitate storage and minimize congestion. In some embodiments,the system can generate predictions relating to storage operations orstorage operation information. Such predictions described may be basedon a trending analysis that may be used to predict various networkoperations or use of network resources such as network traffic levels,storage media use, use of bandwidth of communication links, use of mediaagent components, etc. Further examples of traffic analysis, trendanalysis, prediction generation, and the like are described in U.S. Pat.No. 7,343,453, which is incorporated by reference herein.

In some configurations, a master storage manager 140 may track thestatus of a set of associated storage operation cells in a hierarchy ofinformation management cells, such as the status of jobs, systemcomponents, system resources, and other items, by communicating withstorage managers 140 (or other components) in the respective storageoperation cells. Moreover, the master storage manager 140 may track thestatus of its associated storage operation cells and associatedinformation management operations by receiving periodic status updatesfrom the storage managers 140 (or other components) in the respectivecells regarding jobs, system components, system resources, and otheritems. In some embodiments, a master storage manager 140 may storestatus information and other information regarding its associatedstorage operation cells and other system information in its index 150(or other location).

The master storage manager 140 or other component in the system may alsodetermine whether a storage-related criteria or other criteria issatisfied, and perform an action or trigger event (e.g., data migration)in response to the criteria being satisfied, such as where a storagethreshold is met for a particular volume, or where inadequate protectionexists for certain data. For instance, in some embodiments, the systemuses data from one or more storage operation cells to advise users ofrisks or indicates actions that can be used to mitigate or otherwiseminimize these risks, and in some embodiments, dynamically takes actionto mitigate or minimize these risks. For example, an informationmanagement policy may specify certain requirements (e.g., that a storagedevice should maintain a certain amount of free space, that secondarycopies should occur at a particular interval, that data should be agedand migrated to other storage after a particular period, that data on asecondary volume should always have a certain level of availability andbe able to be restored within a given time period, that data on asecondary volume may be mirrored or otherwise migrated to a specifiednumber of other volumes, etc.). If a risk condition or other criteria istriggered, the system can notify the user of these conditions and maysuggest (or automatically implement) an action to mitigate or otherwiseaddress the condition or minimize risk. For example, the system mayindicate that data from a primary copy 112 should be migrated to asecondary storage device 108 to free space on the primary storage device104. Examples of the use of risk factors and other triggering criteriaare described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, which is incorporated byreference herein.

In some embodiments, the system 100 may also determine whether a metricor other indication satisfies a particular storage criteria and, if so,perform an action. For example, as previously described, a storagepolicy or other definition might indicate that a storage manager 140should initiate a particular action if a storage metric or otherindication drops below or otherwise fails to satisfy specified criteriasuch as a threshold of data protection. Examples of such metrics aredescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, which is incorporated by referenceherein.

In some embodiments, risk factors may be quantified into certainmeasurable service or risk levels for ease of comprehension. Forexample, certain applications and associated data may be considered tobe more important by an enterprise than other data and services.Financial compliance data, for example, may be of greater importancethan marketing materials, etc. Network administrators may assignpriorities or “weights” to certain data or applications, correspondingto its importance (priority value). The level of compliance with thestorage operations specified for these applications may also be assigneda certain value. Thus, the health, impact and overall importance of aservice on an enterprise may be determined, for example, by measuringthe compliance value and calculating the product of the priority valueand the compliance value to determine the “service level” and comparingit to certain operational thresholds to determine if the operation isbeing performed within a specified data protection service level.Further examples of the service level determination are provided in U.S.Pat. No. 7,343,453, which is incorporated by reference herein.

The system 100 may additionally calculate data costing and dataavailability associated with information management operation cellsaccording to an embodiment of the invention. For instance, data receivedfrom the cell may be used in conjunction with hardware-relatedinformation and other information about network elements to generateindications of costs associated with storage of particular data in thesystem or the availability of particular data in the system. In general,components in the system are identified and associated information isobtained (dynamically or manually). Characteristics or metricsassociated with the network elements may be identified and associatedwith that component element for further use generating an indication ofstorage cost or data availability. Exemplary information generated couldinclude how fast a particular department is using up available storagespace, how long data would take to recover over a particular networkpathway from a particular secondary storage device, costs over time,etc. Moreover, in some embodiments, such information may be used todetermine or predict the overall cost associated with the storage ofcertain information. The cost associated with hosting a certainapplication may be based, at least in part, on the type of media onwhich the data resides. Storage devices may be assigned to a particularcost category which is indicative of the cost of storing information onthat device. Further examples of costing techniques are described inU.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Any of the above types of information (e.g., information related totrending, predictions, job, cell or component status, risk, servicelevel, costing, etc.) can generally be provided to users via the userinterface 158 in a single, integrated view or console. The console maysupport a reporting capability that allows for the generation of avariety of reports, which may be tailored to a particular aspect ofinformation management. Report types may include: scheduling, eventmanagement, media management and data aging. Available reports may alsoinclude backup history, data aging history, auxiliary copy history, jobhistory, library and drive, media in library, restore history, andstorage policy. Such reports may be specified and created at a certainpoint in time as a network analysis, forecasting, or provisioning tool.Integrated reports may also be generated that illustrate storage andperformance metrics, risks and storage costing information. Moreover,users may create their own reports based on specific needs.

The integrated user interface 158 can include an option to show a“virtual view” of the system that graphically depicts the variouscomponents in the system using appropriate icons. As one example, theuser interface 158 may provide a graphical depiction of one or moreprimary storage devices 104, the secondary storage devices 108, dataagents 142 and/or media agents 144, and their relationship to oneanother in the information management system 100. The operationsmanagement functionality can facilitate planning and decision-making.For example, in some embodiments, a user may view the status of some orall jobs as well as the status of each component of the informationmanagement system 100. Users may then plan and make decisions based onthis data. For instance, a user may view high-level informationregarding storage operations for the information management system 100,such as job status, component status, resource status (e.g., networkpathways, etc.), and other information. The user may also drill down oruse other means to obtain more detailed information regarding aparticular component, job, or the like.

Further examples of some reporting techniques and associated interfacesproviding an integrated view of an information management system areprovided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, which is incorporated by referenceherein.

The information management system 100 can also be configured to performsystem-wide e-discovery operations in some embodiments. In general,e-discovery operations provide a unified collection and searchcapability for data in the system, such as data stored in the secondarystorage devices 108 (e.g., backups, archives, or other secondary copies116). For example, the information management system 100 may constructand maintain a virtual repository for data stored in the informationmanagement system 100 that is integrated across source applications 110,different storage device types, etc. According to some embodiments,e-discovery utilizes other techniques described herein, such as dataclassification and/or content indexing.

Information Management Policies

As indicated previously, an information management policy 148 caninclude a data structure or other information source that specifies aset of parameters (e.g., criteria and rules) associated with secondarycopy or other information management operations.

One type of information management policy 148 is a storage policy.According to certain embodiments, a storage policy generally comprises adata structure or other information source that defines (or includesinformation sufficient to determine) a set of preferences or othercriteria for performing information management operations. Storagepolicies can include one or more of the following items: (1) what datawill be associated with the storage policy; (2) a destination to whichthe data will be stored; (3) datapath information specifying how thedata will be communicated to the destination; (4) the type of storageoperation to be performed; and (5) retention information specifying howlong the data will be retained at the destination.

As an illustrative example, data associated with a storage policy can belogically organized into groups. In some cases, these logical groupingscan be referred to as “sub-clients”. A sub-client may represent staticor dynamic associations of portions of a data volume. Sub-clients mayrepresent mutually exclusive portions. Thus, in certain embodiments, aportion of data may be given a label and the association is stored as astatic entity in an index, database or other storage location.

Sub-clients may also be used as an effective administrative scheme oforganizing data according to data type, department within theenterprise, storage preferences, or the like. Depending on theconfiguration, sub-clients can correspond to files, folders, virtualmachines, databases, etc. In one exemplary scenario, an administratormay find it preferable to separate e-mail data from financial data usingtwo different sub-clients.

A storage policy can define where data is stored by specifying a targetor destination storage device (or group of storage devices). Forinstance, where the secondary storage device 108 includes a group ofdisk libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular disk libraryfor storing the sub-clients associated with the policy. As anotherexample, where the secondary storage devices 108 include one or moretape libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular tape libraryfor storing the sub-clients associated with the storage policy, and mayalso specify a drive pool and a tape pool defining a group of tapedrives and a group of tapes, respectively, for use in storing thesub-client data. While information in the storage policy can bestatically assigned in some cases, some or all of the information in thestorage policy can also be dynamically determined based on criteria,which can be set forth in the storage policy. For instance, based onsuch criteria, a particular destination storage device(s) (or otherparameter of the storage policy) may be determined based oncharacteristics associated with the data involved in a particularstorage operation, device availability (e.g., availability of asecondary storage device 108 or a media agent 144), network status andconditions (e.g., identified bottlenecks), user credentials, and thelike).

Datapath information can also be included in the storage policy. Forinstance, the storage policy may specify network pathways and componentsto utilize when moving the data to the destination storage device(s). Insome embodiments, the storage policy specifies one or more media agents144 for conveying data (e.g., one or more sub-clients) associated withthe storage policy between the source (e.g., one or more host clientcomputing devices 102) and destination (e.g., a particular targetsecondary storage device 108).

A storage policy can also specify the type(s) of operations associatedwith the storage policy, such as a backup, archive, snapshot, auxiliarycopy, or the like. Retention information can specify how long the datawill be kept, depending on organizational needs (e.g., a number of days,months, years, etc.)

The information management policies 148 may also include one or morescheduling policies specifying when and how often to perform operations.Scheduling information may specify with what frequency (e.g., hourly,weekly, daily, event-based, etc.) or under what triggering conditionssecondary copy or other information management operations will takeplace. Scheduling policies in some cases are associated with particularcomponents, such as particular logical groupings of data associated witha storage policy (e.g., a sub-client), client computing device 102, andthe like. In one configuration, a separate scheduling policy ismaintained for particular logical groupings of data on a clientcomputing device 102. The scheduling policy specifies that those logicalgroupings are to be moved to secondary storage devices 108 every houraccording to storage policies associated with the respectivesub-clients.

When adding a new client computing device 102, administrators canmanually configure information management policies 148 and/or othersettings, e.g., via the user interface 158. However, this can be aninvolved process resulting in delays, and it may be desirable to begindata protecting operations quickly.

Thus, in some embodiments, the information management system 100automatically applies a default configuration to client computing device102. As one example, when one or more data agent(s) 142 are installed onone or more client computing devices 102, the installation script mayregister the client computing device 102 with the storage manager 140,which in turn applies the default configuration to the new clientcomputing device 102. In this manner, data protection operations canbegin substantially immediately. The default configuration can include adefault storage policy, for example, and can specify any appropriateinformation sufficient to begin data protection operations. This caninclude a type of data protection operation, scheduling information, atarget secondary storage device 108, data path information (e.g., aparticular media agent 144), and the like.

Other types of information management policies 148 are possible. Forinstance, the information management policies 148 can also include oneor more audit or security policies. An audit policy is a set ofpreferences, rules and/or criteria that protect sensitive data in theinformation management system 100. For example, an audit policy maydefine “sensitive objects” as files or objects that contain particularkeywords (e.g., “confidential,” or “privileged”) and/or are associatedwith particular keywords (e.g., in metadata) or particular flags (e.g.,in metadata identifying a document or email as personal, confidential,etc.).

An audit policy may further specify rules for handling sensitiveobjects. As an example, an audit policy may require that a reviewerapprove the transfer of any sensitive objects to a cloud storage site,and that if approval is denied for a particular sensitive object, thesensitive object should be transferred to a local primary storage device104 instead. To facilitate this approval, the audit policy may furtherspecify how a secondary storage computing device 106 or other systemcomponent should notify a reviewer that a sensitive object is slated fortransfer.

In some implementations, the information management policies 148 mayinclude one or more provisioning policies. A provisioning policy caninclude a set of preferences, priorities, rules, and/or criteria thatspecify how client computing devices 102 (or groups thereof) may utilizesystem resources, such as available storage on cloud storage and/ornetwork bandwidth. A provisioning policy specifies, for example, dataquotas for particular client computing devices 102 (e.g., a number ofgigabytes that can be stored monthly, quarterly or annually). Thestorage manager 140 or other components may enforce the provisioningpolicy. For instance, the media agents 144 may enforce the policy whentransferring data to secondary storage devices 108. If a clientcomputing device 102 exceeds a quota, a budget for the client computingdevice 102 (or associated department) is adjusted accordingly or analert may trigger.

While the above types of information management policies 148 have beendescribed as separate policies, one or more of these can be generallycombined into a single information management policy 148. For instance,a storage policy may also include or otherwise be associated with one ormore scheduling, audit, or provisioning policies. Moreover, whilestorage policies are typically associated with moving and storing data,other policies may be associated with other types of informationmanagement operations. The following is a non-exhaustive list of itemsthe information management policies 148 may specify:

-   -   schedules or other timing information, e.g., specifying when        and/or how often to perform information management operations;    -   the type of copy 116 (e.g., type of secondary copy) and/or copy        format (e.g., snapshot, backup, archive, HSM, etc.);    -   a location or a class or quality of storage for storing        secondary copies 116 (e.g., one or more particular secondary        storage devices 108);    -   preferences regarding whether and how to encrypt, compress,        deduplicate, or otherwise modify or transform secondary copies        116;    -   which system components and/or network pathways (e.g., preferred        media agents 144) should be used to perform secondary storage        operations;    -   resource allocation between different computing devices or other        system components used in performing information management        operations (e.g., bandwidth allocation, available storage        capacity, etc.);    -   whether and how to synchronize or otherwise distribute files or        other data objects across multiple computing devices or hosted        services; and    -   retention information specifying the length of time primary data        112 and/or secondary copies 116 should be retained, e.g., in a        particular class or tier of storage devices, or within the        information management system 100.

Policies can additionally specify or depend on a variety of historicalor current criteria that may be used to determine which rules to applyto a particular data object, system component, or information managementoperation, such as:

-   -   frequency with which primary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 of        a data object or metadata has been or is predicted to be used,        accessed, or modified;    -   time-related factors (e.g., aging information such as time since        the creation or modification of a data object);    -   deduplication information (e.g., hashes, data blocks,        deduplication block size, deduplication efficiency or other        metrics);    -   an estimated or historic usage or cost associated with different        components (e.g., with secondary storage devices 108);    -   the identity of users, applications 110, client computing        devices 102 and/or other computing devices that created,        accessed, modified, or otherwise utilized primary data 112 or        secondary copies 116;    -   a relative sensitivity (e.g., confidentiality) of a data object,        e.g., as determined by its content and/or metadata;    -   the current or historical storage capacity of various storage        devices;    -   the current or historical network capacity of network pathways        connecting various components within the storage operation cell;    -   access control lists or other security information; and    -   the content of a particular data object (e.g., its textual        content) or of metadata associated with the data object.

Exemplary Storage Policy and Secondary Storage Operations

FIG. 1E shows a data flow data diagram depicting performance of storageoperations by an embodiment of an information management system 100,according to an exemplary storage policy 148A. The informationmanagement system 100 includes a storage manger 140, a client computingdevice 102 having a file system data agent 142A and an email data agent142B residing thereon, a primary storage device 104, two media agents144A, 144B, and two secondary storage devices 108A, 108B: a disk library108A and a tape library 108B. As shown, the primary storage device 104includes primary data 112A, 112B associated with a logical grouping ofdata associated with a file system) and a logical grouping of dataassociated with email data, respectively. Although for simplicity thelogical grouping of data associated with the file system is referred toas a file system sub-client, and the logical grouping of data associatedwith the email data is referred to as an email sub-client, thetechniques described with respect to FIG. 1E can be utilized inconjunction with data that is organized in a variety of other manners.

As indicated by the dashed box, the second media agent 144B and the tapelibrary 108B are “off-site”, and may therefore be remotely located fromthe other components in the information management system 100 (e.g., ina different city, office building, etc.). Indeed, “off-site” may referto a magnetic tape located in storage, which must be manually retrievedand loaded into a tape drive to be read. In this manner, informationstored on the tape library 108B may provide protection in the event of adisaster or other failure.

The file system sub-client and its associated primary data 112A incertain embodiments generally comprise information generated by the filesystem and/or operating system of the client computing device 102, andcan include, for example, file system data (e.g., regular files, filetables, mount points, etc.), operating system data (e.g., registries,event logs, etc.), and the like. The e-mail sub-client, on the otherhand, and its associated primary data 112B, include data generated by ane-mail client application operating on the client computing device 102,and can include mailbox information, folder information, emails,attachments, associated database information, and the like. As describedabove, the sub-clients can be logical containers, and the data includedin the corresponding primary data 112A, 112B may or may not be storedcontiguously.

The exemplary storage policy 148A includes backup copy preferences orrule set 160, disaster recovery copy preferences rule set 162, andcompliance copy preferences or rule set 164. The backup copy rule set160 specifies that it is associated with a file system sub-client 166and an email sub-client 168. Each of these sub-clients 166, 168 areassociated with the particular client computing device 102. The backupcopy rule set 160 further specifies that the backup operation will bewritten to the disk library 108A, and designates a particular mediaagent 144A to convey the data to the disk library 108A. Finally, thebackup copy rule set 160 specifies that backup copies created accordingto the rule set 160 are scheduled to be generated on an hourly basis andto be retained for 30 days. In some other embodiments, schedulinginformation is not included in the storage policy 148A, and is insteadspecified by a separate scheduling policy.

The disaster recovery copy rule set 162 is associated with the same twosub-clients 166, 168. However, the disaster recovery copy rule set 162is associated with the tape library 108B, unlike the backup copy ruleset 160. Moreover, the disaster recovery copy rule set 162 specifiesthat a different media agent 144B than the media agent 144A associatedwith the backup copy rule set 160 will be used to convey the data to thetape library 108B. As indicated, disaster recovery copies createdaccording to the rule set 162 will be retained for 60 days, and will begenerated on a daily basis. Disaster recovery copies generated accordingto the disaster recovery copy rule set 162 can provide protection in theevent of a disaster or other data-loss event that would affect thebackup copy 116A maintained on the disk library 108A.

The compliance copy rule set 164 is only associated with the emailsub-client 168, and not the file system sub-client 166. Compliancecopies generated according to the compliance copy rule set 164 willtherefore not include primary data 112A from the file system sub-client166. For instance, the organization may be under an obligation to storeand maintain copies of email data for a particular period of time (e.g.,10 years) to comply with state or federal regulations, while similarregulations do not apply to the file system data. The compliance copyrule set 164 is associated with the same tape library 108B and mediaagent 144B as the disaster recovery copy rule set 162, although adifferent storage device or media agent could be used in otherembodiments. Finally, the compliance copy rule set 164 specifies thatcopies generated under the compliance copy rule set 164 will be retainedfor 10 years, and will be generated on a quarterly basis.

At step 1, the storage manager 140 initiates a backup operationaccording to the backup copy rule set 160. For instance, a schedulingservice running on the storage manager 140 accesses schedulinginformation from the backup copy rule set 160 or a separate schedulingpolicy associated with the client computing device 102, and initiates abackup copy operation on an hourly basis. Thus, at the scheduled timeslot the storage manager 140 sends instructions to the client computingdevice 102 to begin the backup operation.

At step 2, the file system data agent 142A and the email data agent 142Bresiding on the client computing device 102 respond to the instructionsreceived from the storage manager 140 by accessing and processing theprimary data 112A, 112B involved in the copy operation from the primarystorage device 104. Because the operation is a backup copy operation,the data agent(s) 142A, 142B may format the data into a backup format orotherwise process the data.

At step 3, the client computing device 102 communicates the retrieved,processed data to the first media agent 144A, as directed by the storagemanager 140, according to the backup copy rule set 160. In some otherembodiments, the information management system 100 may implement aload-balancing, availability-based, or other appropriate algorithm toselect from the available set of media agents 144A, 144B. Regardless ofthe manner the media agent 144A is selected, the storage manager 140 mayfurther keep a record in the storage manager database 146 of theassociation between the selected media agent 144A and the clientcomputing device 102 and/or between the selected media agent 144A andthe backup copy 116A.

The target media agent 144A receives the data from the client computingdevice 102, and at step 4 conveys the data to the disk library 108A tocreate the backup copy 116A, again at the direction of the storagemanager 140 and according to the backup copy rule set 160. The secondarystorage device 108A can be selected in other ways. For instance, themedia agent 144A may have a dedicated association with a particularsecondary storage device(s), or the storage manager 140 or media agent144A may select from a plurality of secondary storage devices, e.g.,according to availability, using one of the techniques described in U.S.Pat. No. 7,246,207, which is incorporated by reference herein.

The media agent 144A can also update its index 153 to include dataand/or metadata related to the backup copy 116A, such as informationindicating where the backup copy 116A resides on the disk library 108A,data and metadata for cache retrieval, etc. After the 30 day retentionperiod expires, the storage manager 140 instructs the media agent 144Ato delete the backup copy 116A from the disk library 108A. The storagemanager 140 may similarly update its index 150 to include informationrelating to the storage operation, such as information relating to thetype of storage operation, a physical location associated with one ormore copies created by the storage operation, the time the storageoperation was performed, status information relating to the storageoperation, the components involved in the storage operation, and thelike. In some cases, the storage manager 140 may update its index 150 toinclude some or all of the information stored in the index 153 of themedia agent 144A.

At step 5, the storage manager 140 initiates the creation of a disasterrecovery copy 116B according to the disaster recovery copy rule set 162.For instance, at step 6, based on instructions received from the storagemanager 140 at step 5, the specified media agent 144B retrieves the mostrecent backup copy 116A from the disk library 108A.

At step 7, again at the direction of the storage manager 140 and asspecified in the disaster recovery copy rule set 162, the media agent144B uses the retrieved data to create a disaster recovery copy 116B onthe tape library 108B. In some cases, the disaster recovery copy 116B isa direct, mirror copy of the backup copy 116A, and remains in the backupformat. In other embodiments, the disaster recovery copy 116B may begenerated in some other manner, such as by using the primary data 112A,112B from the primary storage device 104 as source data. The disasterrecovery copy operation is initiated once a day and the disasterrecovery copies 116B are deleted after 60 days.

At step 8, the storage manager 140 initiates the creation of acompliance copy 116C, according to the compliance copy rule set 164. Forinstance, the storage manager 140 instructs the media agent 144B tocreate the compliance copy 116C on the tape library 108B at step 9, asspecified in the compliance copy rule set 164. In the example, thecompliance copy 116C is generated using the disaster recovery copy 116B.In other embodiments, the compliance copy 116C is instead generatedusing either the primary data 112B corresponding to the email sub-clientor using the backup copy 116A from the disk library 108A as source data.As specified, in the illustrated example, compliance copies 116C arecreated quarterly, and are deleted after ten years.

While not shown in FIG. 1E, at some later point in time, a restoreoperation can be initiated involving one or more of the secondary copies116A, 116B, 116C. As one example, a user may manually initiate a restoreof the backup copy 116A by interacting with the user interface 158 ofthe storage manager 140. The storage manager 140 then accesses data inits index 150 (and/or the respective storage policy 148A) associatedwith the selected backup copy 116A to identify the appropriate mediaagent 144A and/or secondary storage device 108A.

In other cases, a media agent may be selected for use in the restoreoperation based on a load balancing algorithm, an availability basedalgorithm, or other criteria. The selected media agent 144A retrievesthe data from the disk library 108A. For instance, the media agent 144Amay access its index 153 to identify a location of the backup copy 116Aon the disk library 108A, or may access location information residing onthe disk 108A itself.

When the backup copy 116A was recently created or accessed, the mediaagent 144A accesses a cached version of the backup copy 116A residing inthe index 153, without having to access the disk library 108A for someor all of the data. Once it has retrieved the backup copy 116A, themedia agent 144A communicates the data to the source client computingdevice 102. Upon receipt, the file system data agent 142A and the emaildata agent 142B may unpackage (e.g., restore from a backup format to thenative application format) the data in the backup copy 116A and restorethe unpackaged data to the primary storage device 104.

Exemplary Applications of Storage Policies

The storage manager 140 may permit a user to specify aspects of thestorage policy 148A. For example, the storage policy can be modified toinclude information governance policies to define how data should bemanaged in order to comply with a certain regulation or businessobjective. The various policies may be stored, for example, in thedatabase 146. An information governance policy may comprise aclassification policy, which is described herein. An informationgovernance policy may align with one or more compliance tasks that areimposed by regulations or business requirements. Examples of informationgovernance policies might include a Sarbanes-Oxley policy, a HIPAApolicy, an electronic discovery (E-Discovery) policy, and so on.

Information governance policies allow administrators to obtain differentperspectives on all of an organization's online and offline data,without the need for a dedicated data silo created solely for eachdifferent viewpoint. As described previously, the data storage systemsherein build a centralized index that reflects the contents of adistributed data set that spans numerous clients and storage devices,including both primary and secondary copies, and online and offlinecopies. An organization may apply multiple information governancepolicies in a top-down manner over that unified data set and indexingschema in order to permit an organization to view and manipulate thesingle data set through different lenses, each of which is adapted to aparticular compliance or business goal. Thus, for example, by applyingan E-discovery policy and a Sarbanes-Oxley policy, two different groupsof users in an organization can conduct two very different analyses ofthe same underlying physical set of data copies, which may bedistributed throughout the organization.

A classification policy defines a taxonomy of classification terms ortags relevant to a compliance task and/or business objective. Aclassification policy may also associate a defined tag with aclassification rule. A classification rule defines a particularcombination of data criteria, such as users who have created, accessedor modified a document or data object; file or application types;content or metadata keywords; clients or storage locations; dates ofdata creation and/or access; review status or other status within aworkflow (e.g., reviewed or un-reviewed); modification times or types ofmodifications; and/or any other data attributes. A classification rulemay also be defined using other classification tags in the taxonomy. Thevarious criteria used to define a classification rule may be combined inany suitable fashion, for example, via Boolean operators, to define acomplex classification rule. As an example, an E-discoveryclassification policy might define a classification tag “privileged”that is associated with documents or data objects that (1) were createdor modified by legal department staff, (2) were sent to or received fromoutside counsel via email, and/or (3) contain one of the followingkeywords: “privileged” or “attorney,” “counsel”, or other terms.

One specific type of classification tag, which may be added to an indexat the time of indexing, is an entity tag. An entity tag may be, forexample, any content that matches a defined data mask format. Examplesof entity tags might include, e.g., social security numbers (e.g., anynumerical content matching the formatting mask XXX-XX-XXXX), credit cardnumbers (e.g., content having a 13-16 digit string of numbers), SKUnumbers, product numbers, etc.

A user may define a classification policy by indicating criteria,parameters or descriptors of the policy via a graphical user interfacethat provides facilities to present information and receive input data,such as a form or page with fields to be filled in, pull-down menus orentries allowing one or more of several options to be selected, buttons,sliders, hypertext links or other known user interface tools forreceiving user input. For example, a user may define certain entitytags, such as a particular product number or project ID code that isrelevant in the organization.

In some implementations, the classification policy can be implementedusing cloud-based techniques. For example, the storage devices may becloud storage devices, and the storage manager 140 may execute cloudservice provider API over a network to classify data stored on cloudstorage devices.

Exemplary Secondary Copy Formatting

The formatting and structure of secondary copies 116 can vary, dependingon the embodiment. In some cases, secondary copies 116 are formatted asa series of logical data units or “chunks” (e.g., 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 4GB, or 8 GB chunks). This can facilitate efficient communication andwriting to secondary storage devices 108, e.g., according to resourceavailability. For example, a single secondary copy 116 may be written ona chunk-by-chunk basis to a single secondary storage device 108 oracross multiple secondary storage devices 108. In some cases, users canselect different chunk sizes, e.g., to improve throughput to tapestorage devices.

Generally, each chunk can include a header and a payload. The payloadcan include files (or other data units) or subsets thereof included inthe chunk, whereas the chunk header generally includes metadata relatingto the chunk, some or all of which may be derived from the payload. Forexample, during a secondary copy operation, the media agent 144, storagemanager 140, or other component may divide the associated files intochunks and generate headers for each chunk by processing the constituentfiles.

The headers can include a variety of information such as fileidentifier(s), volume(s), offset(s), or other information associatedwith the payload data items, a chunk sequence number, etc. Importantly,in addition to being stored with the secondary copy 116 on the secondarystorage device 108, the chunk headers can also be stored to the index153 of the associated media agent(s) 144 and/or the index 150. This isuseful in some cases for providing faster processing of secondary copies116 during restores or other operations. In some cases, once a chunk issuccessfully transferred to a secondary storage device 108, thesecondary storage device 108 returns an indication of receipt, e.g., tothe media agent 144 and/or storage manager 140, which may update theirrespective indexes 153, 150 accordingly. During restore, chunks may beprocessed (e.g., by the media agent 144) according to the information inthe chunk header to reassemble the files.

Data can also be communicated within the information management system100 in data channels that connect the client computing devices 102 tothe secondary storage devices 108. These data channels can be referredto as “data streams”, and multiple data streams can be employed toparallelize an information management operation, improving data transferrate, among providing other advantages. Example data formattingtechniques including techniques involving data streaming, chunking, andthe use of other data structures in creating copies (e.g., secondarycopies) are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,315,923 and 8,156,086, andU.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2010/0299490, each of which is incorporated byreference herein.

FIGS. 1F and 1G are diagrams of example data streams 170 and 171,respectively, which may be employed for performing data storageoperations. Referring to FIG. 1F, the data agent 142 forms the datastream 170 from the data associated with a client computing device 102(e.g., primary data 112). The data stream 170 is composed of multiplepairs of stream header 172 and stream data (or stream payload) 174. Thedata streams 170 and 171 shown in the illustrated example are for asingle-instanced storage operation, and a stream payload 174 thereforemay include both single-instance (“SI”) data and/or non-SI data. Astream header 172 includes metadata about the stream payload 174. Thismetadata may include, for example, a length of the stream payload 174,an indication of whether the stream payload 174 is encrypted, anindication of whether the stream payload 174 is compressed, an archivefile identifier (ID), an indication of whether the stream payload 174 issingle instanceable, and an indication of whether the stream payload 174is a start of a block of data.

Referring to FIG. 1G, the data stream 171 has the stream header 172 andstream payload 174 aligned into multiple data blocks. In this example,the data blocks are of size 64 KB. The first two stream header 172 andstream payload 174 pairs comprise a first data block of size 64 KB. Thefirst stream header 172 indicates that the length of the succeedingstream payload 174 is 63 KB and that it is the start of a data block.The next stream header 172 indicates that the succeeding stream payload174 has a length of 1 KB and that it is not the start of a new datablock. Immediately following stream payload 174 is a pair comprising anidentifier header 176 and identifier data 178. The identifier header 176includes an indication that the succeeding identifier data 178 includesthe identifier for the immediately previous data block. The identifierdata 178 includes the identifier that the data agent 142 generated forthe data block. The data stream 171 also includes other stream header172 and stream payload 174 pairs, which may be for SI data and/or fornon-SI data.

FIG. 1H is a diagram illustrating the data structures 180 that may beused to store blocks of SI data and non-SI data on the storage device(e.g., secondary storage device 108). According to certain embodiments,the data structures 180 do not form part of a native file system of thestorage device. The data structures 180 include one or more volumefolders 182, one or more chunk folders 184/185 within the volume folder182, and multiple files within the chunk folder 184. Each chunk folder184/185 includes a metadata file 186/187, a metadata index file 188/189,one or more container files 190/191/193, and a container index file192/194. The metadata file 186/187 stores non-SI data blocks as well aslinks to SI data blocks stored in container files. The metadata indexfile 188/189 stores an index to the data in the metadata file 186/187.The container files 190/191/193 store SI data blocks. The containerindex file 192/194 stores an index to the container files 190/191/193.Among other things, the container index file 192/194 stores anindication of whether a corresponding block in a container file190/191/193 is referred to by a link in a metadata file 186/187. Forexample, data block B2 in the container file 190 is referred to by alink in the metadata file 187 in the chunk folder 185. Accordingly, thecorresponding index entry in the container index file 192 indicates thatthe data block B2 in the container file 190 is referred to. As anotherexample, data block B1 in the container file 191 is referred to by alink in the metadata file 187, and so the corresponding index entry inthe container index file 192 indicates that this data block is referredto.

As an example, the data structures 180 illustrated in FIG. 1H may havebeen created as a result of two storage operations involving two clientcomputing devices 102. For example, a first storage operation on a firstclient computing device 102 could result in the creation of the firstchunk folder 184, and a second storage operation on a second clientcomputing device 102 could result in the creation of the second chunkfolder 185. The container files 190/191 in the first chunk folder 184would contain the blocks of SI data of the first client computing device102. If the two client computing devices 102 have substantially similardata, the second storage operation on the data of the second clientcomputing device 102 would result in the media agent 144 storingprimarily links to the data blocks of the first client computing device102 that are already stored in the container files 190/191. Accordingly,while a first storage operation may result in storing nearly all of thedata subject to the storage operation, subsequent storage operationsinvolving similar data may result in substantial data storage spacesavings, because links to already stored data blocks can be storedinstead of additional instances of data blocks.

If the operating system of the secondary storage computing device 106 onwhich the media agent 144 resides supports sparse files, then when themedia agent 144 creates container files 190/191/193, it can create themas sparse files. As previously described, a sparse file is type of filethat may include empty space (e.g., a sparse file may have real datawithin it, such as at the beginning of the file and/or at the end of thefile, but may also have empty space in it that is not storing actualdata, such as a contiguous range of bytes all having a value of zero).Having the container files 190/191/193 be sparse files allows the mediaagent 144 to free up space in the container files 190/191/193 whenblocks of data in the container files 190/191/193 no longer need to bestored on the storage devices. In some examples, the media agent 144creates a new container file 190/191/193 when a container file190/191/193 either includes 100 blocks of data or when the size of thecontainer file 190 exceeds 50 MB. In other examples, the media agent 144creates a new container file 190/191/193 when a container file190/191/193 satisfies other criteria (e.g., it contains fromapproximately 100 to approximately 1000 blocks or when its size exceedsapproximately 50 MB to 1 GB).

In some cases, a file on which a storage operation is performed maycomprise a large number of data blocks. For example, a 100 MB file maybe comprised in 400 data blocks of size 256 KB. If such a file is to bestored, its data blocks may span more than one container file, or evenmore than one chunk folder. As another example, a database file of 20 GBmay comprise over 40,000 data blocks of size 512 KB. If such a databasefile is to be stored, its data blocks will likely span multiplecontainer files, multiple chunk folders, and potentially multiple volumefolders. As described in detail herein, restoring such files may thusrequiring accessing multiple container files, chunk folders, and/orvolume folders to obtain the requisite data blocks.

System Overview

The systems and methods described with respect to FIGS. 1A-1H can beused for file sharing, including for restoring and/or sharing portionsof files. In some embodiments, a partial file restore module is asoftware module that forms a part of or resides on the storage manager140 or, alternatively, the media agents 144. The partial file restoremodule can additionally be a software module executing on one or more ofthe client computers 102. For instance, in some embodiments, the partialfile restore module may be implemented as a part of the data agent 142.Partial file restore will be discussed in more detail with respect toFIGS. 2-5.

An Exemplary Information Management System for Implementing Partial FileRestore

FIG. 2 is a data flow diagram illustrative of the interaction betweenthe various components of an exemplary information management system 200configured to implement an in-chunk index for partial file restore,according to certain embodiments. As illustrated, the exemplaryinformation management system 200 includes a storage manager 210, aclient 220, an information store 230, one or more partial file restoremodules 250, one or more applications 260, one or more media agents 270,and one or more secondary storage devices 280. The system 200 andcorresponding components of FIG. 2 may be similar to or the same as thesystem 100 and similarly named components of FIG. 1D. Moreover,depending on the embodiment, the system 200 of FIG. 2 may additionallyinclude any of the other components shown in FIG. 1D that are notspecifically shown in FIG. 2 (e.g., one or more data agents, etc.). Thesystem 200 may include one or more of each component. All components ofthe system 200 can be in direct communication with each other orcommunicate indirectly via the client 220, the storage manager 210, themedia agent 270, or the like. In certain embodiments, some of thecomponents in FIG. 2 shown as separate components can reside on a singlecomputing device, or vice versa. For example, the partial file restoremodule 250 can be on the media agent 270 or on a separate computingdevice.

With further reference to FIG. 2, the interaction between the variouscomponents of the exemplary information management system will now bedescribed in greater detail with respect to data flow steps indicated bythe numbered arrows.

Files in primary storage may be copied to secondary storage, e.g., aspart of a backup, archive, or other secondary copy operation. The copiesof files in secondary storage may be referred to as secondary copies ofthe files. Partial file restore may refer to restoring a portion of asecondary copy of a file, instead of restoring the entire secondarycopy. In many cases, only a portion of the secondary copy may be needed.For example, the user may select a video file for playback, where thevideo file resides in secondary storage. But the user may want to startwatching from a certain point into the movie. In such a case, restoringonly the desired portion of the secondary copy can save a significantamount of time, especially for large files like video files.

The user may indicate the portion of the secondary copy to restore usingan interface of the native application associated with the file. Forexample, in case of a video file, the user may drag the playback sliderin the graphical user interface (GUI) of a video playback application toa particular point from which the user wishes to view the video. Theapplication can determine the application offset that corresponds to thepoint selected by the user in the GUI, and the application offset candesignate the starting position for the portion of the file to berestored. The application may indicate the application offset for thestarting point of the portion, or indicate the application offsets forboth the starting point and end point of the portion. However,application offsets may not map to corresponding offsets in thesecondary copy. For instance, secondary copies may includebackup-related metadata at the beginning, e.g., in the header. Inaddition, the data for the secondary copies may have been deduplicated,compressed, etc. Therefore, there is a need for mapping the applicationoffsets to the secondary copy offsets in an easily accessible andefficient manner. The system 200 can provide one or more in-chunkindexes that include information about the mapping between theapplication offsets and the secondary copy offsets.

As explained above, a “chunk” may refer to logical data units in whichsecondary copies are stored. Secondary copies may be formatted and/ororganized as a series of chunks, and may be written to secondary storageon a chunk-by-chunk basis. The chunk size can be defined according tothe requirements of the system 200 (e.g., 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, or 8GB chunks). Formatting secondary copies in chunks can facilitateefficient communication and writing to secondary storage devices. Forexample, a larger chunk size can provide better throughput when writingdata to secondary storage (e.g., tape media). A chunk may includemultiple files, and a file may span across multiple chunks. FIG. 2illustrates chunks C₁ through C_(n) 285 in Storage Device 1 280 a. Asshown, chunk C₂ 285 b includes multiple files (files F1 and F2). File F3spans across multiple chunks. File F3 starts in chunk C₂ 285 b, andcontinues through chunk C₃ 285 c and one or more subsequent chunks (notshown). Chunks are explained in more detail above.

Each chunk may have associated metadata information or index files. Anin-chunk index can include the mapping information between theapplication offsets and secondary copy offsets for one or more files.The in-chunk index may be included in the chunk metadata information, ormay be an index file associated with the chunk. In-chunk indexes will beexplained in more detail with respect to data flow step 2.

At data flow step 1, the storage manager 210 initiates backup of primarystorage data to secondary storage. The backup (or other secondary copyoperation) may run according to a schedule, at user request, based on astorage policy such as any of the storage policies described herein,based on certain events, etc. A schedule may be based on the passage ofa pre-determined amount of time, such as on a regular basis (e.g., aftera particular time interval, such as a certain number of hours or days),or on an intermittent basis. Backup may also be event-based and may betriggered by certain events. Backup can be implemented as one or morestorage policies, and the storage manager 210 may manage such storagepolicies. In some embodiments, the system 200 may provide partial filerestore feature as an option during backup. For example, the systemadministrator may select partial file restore as one of the backupparameters, causing the system 200 to create an in-chunk index in thebackup copy to enable later partial file recovery.

The storage manager 210 may instruct one or more media agents 270 tocopy the data from primary storage (e.g., information store 230) tosecondary storage (e.g., storage devices 280). A media agent 270 maywrite data to a buffer in order to copy the data to secondary storage.The buffer may have a fixed size. The buffer size can be selected basedon the bandwidth and other requirements of the system 200 (e.g., 64 KB,etc.). The amount of data written to the buffer can vary depending oneach write operation. For instance, the amount of data that is writtenin a write operation can range anywhere from greater than 0 to the sizeof the buffer. Accordingly, the amount of data written to the buffer canbe dynamic and indeterminate. Moreover, as will be described further,mapping entries in the in-chunk index are generally written to the chunkfor a given portion of the file at the time that portion is written tothe secondary storage device using the buffer. It can be important thatthe mapping entries (e.g., application offset/secondary copy offsetpairs) are stored at the time of the corresponding buffer write. Forexample, it would be difficult or impractical to determine the correctmapping information at a later point in time, after one or moresubsequent buffer writes, due of the indeterminate nature of the bufferwrite size.

The storage manager 210 and/or the media agents 270 may storeinformation relating to the backup in their respective indexes 215, 275.For example, the storage manager index 215 can include information aboutwhich backup copies and/or operations are associated with which mediaagents 270. In FIG. 2, a first backup B1 and a second backup B2 areassociated with Media Agent 1 270 a, and a third backup B3 and a fourthbackup B4 are associated with Media Agent 2 270 b. The media agentindex(es) 275 can include information about which files are associatedwith which backup copies and/or operations and any related information(e.g., beginning offset of a file in a backup copy). In FIG. 2, theindex 275 a for Media Agent 1 270 a indicates that files F1, F2, and F3are associated with backup B1, and that file F4 is associated withbackup B2. The media agent index 275 a also includes information aboutthe beginning offset of each file in the backup copy, e.g., the locationin the backup copy at which the particular file begins. For instance,file F1 in backup B1 begins at offset 01; file F2 in backup B1 begins atoffset 02; file F3 in backup B1 begins at offset 03; and file F4 inbackup B2 begins at offset 04.

The media agents 270 may copy and store the data in the storage devices280 in chunks 285. In FIG. 2, files F1, F2, F3, and F4 are stored invarious chunks 285 (e.g., chunks C₁ through C_(n)). File F1 starts inchunk C₁ 285 a and ends in chunk C₂ 285 b; file F2 starts and ends inchunk C₂ 285 b; file F3 starts in chunk C₂ 285 b and continues throughat least chunk C₃ 285 c; and file F4 starts in chunk C_(n) 285 d. Achunk 285 can contain multiple files like chunks C₁ 285 a, C₂ 285 b, andC_(n) 285 d. Or a chunk 285 can contain one file like chunk C₃ 285 c. Afile can be stored in one chunk 285 like file F2, or can be stored inmultiple chunks 285 like files F1 and F3. As shown in FIG. 2, a backupcopy can be stored in multiple chunks 285. For instance, data for backupB1 is stored in chunks C₁, C₂, C₃ through C_(n) 285.

At data flow step 2, the partial file restore module 250 creates thein-chunk index 255 entry for the current portion of a file beingprocessed. The partial file restore module 250 creates one or morein-chunk indexes 255 for files that are being copied to secondarystorage. As explained above, the in-chunk index 255 entry for thecurrent portion of the file may be written to secondary storage at thetime the portion of the file is written to secondary storage.

The partial file restore module 250 may be a part of or associated witha media agent 270. The partial file restore module 250 creates thein-chunk index(es) 255, for example, during a backup. While describedwith respect to a backup copy operation for the purposes ofillustration, the techniques described herein are compatible with othertypes of storage operations, such as, for example, replication,snapshots, archiving and the like. A description of these and otherstorage operations compatible with embodiments described herein isprovided above. For example, the in-chunk index 255 may be createdduring archiving, instead of a backup.

As mentioned above, the application offsets for a file may not mapexactly to corresponding secondary copy offsets. Secondary copies caninclude backup related metadata and/or header information, and data forsecondary copies may be deduplicated and/or compressed during backup.Therefore, the corresponding offset in the secondary copy may not beeasily calculated or determined, and locating the corresponding offsetcan become complicated. Accordingly, the system 200 may provide amapping between application offsets and the corresponding secondary copyoffsets. Such mapping information can be especially useful for locatingparticular positions in large files. To allow for granular access, themapping information may include the application offset and thecorresponding secondary copy offset at various points throughout thefile, at a selected frequency (e.g., every N bytes).

The mapping information for a file can be included in an in-chunk index255 for the chunk 285 the file is stored in. As explained above, a chunk285 may include metadata information and/or index files associated withthe chunk 285. The in-chunk index 255 may be a part of the metadatainformation and/or may be one or more index files for the chunk 285. Thein-chunk index 255 for a chunk 285 can be written to storage devices 280with the chunk 285, e.g., as part of the chunk metadata information oras a chunk index file(s). The mapping information for a secondary copycan become quite extensive since mapping can be created for a number ofpoints in the file. By storing the in-chunk index 255 in-chunk on thesecondary storage devices 280, the system 200 can advantageouslymaintain the storage manager index 215 and/or the media agent index(es)275 at manageable sizes.

In some embodiments, the in-chunk index 255 may be stored in the storagemanager index 215 and/or the media agent index(es) 275, in addition toand/or instead of storing in storage devices 280 with the chunk 285itself. For example, some or all of the in-chunk index 255 may beaccessible in the storage manager index 215 and/or the media agentindex(es) 275, e.g., for faster searching within certain files.

The in-chunk index 255 can include the mapping information for all filesin the chunk 285. For example, in FIG. 2, the in-chunk index 255 forchunk C₁ 285 a can include the mapping information for file F1 as wellas any other files in chunk C₁ 285 a. The in-chunk index 255 may bestored in one in-chunk index file. In some embodiments, a separatein-chunk index 255 can be created for each file in the chunk 285, andthe in-chunk index 255 for the different files may be stored in separatein-chunk index files.

If a file is stored across multiple chunks 285 (e.g., files F1 and F3),each chunk 285 that stores a portion of the file may include mappinginformation for that portion of the file in its in-chunk index 255. InFIG. 2, for file F1, the in-chunk index 255 for chunk C₁ 285 a caninclude mapping information for the portion of file F1 stored in chunkC₁ 285 a, and the in-chunk index 255 for chunk C₂ 285 b can includemapping information for the portion of file F1 stored in chunk C₂ 285 b.Similarly, for file F3, chunk C₂ in-chunk index 255 can include themapping information for the portion of file F3 in chunk C₂ 285 b, chunkC₃ in-chunk index 255 can include the mapping information for theportion of file F3 in chunk C₃ 285 c, and so forth.

If a file spans across multiple chunks 285, the media agent index 275may include information about which part of the file is stored in whichchunk 285. For example, the media agent index 275 may indicate, for eachchunk 285, the beginning application offset for the part of the file inthe chunk 285 such that the system 200 can easily determine which chunk285 should be accessed to find the portion of the file to be restored.

An in-chunk index 255 can include any information relating to mappingapplication offsets for a file to secondary copy offsets for the file.The in-chunk index 255 may be structured in many different ways. In anillustrative example, FIG. 2 shows the in-chunk index 255 as includingvarious application offsets and corresponding secondary copy offsets.Secondary copy offsets may also be referred to as “archive offsets” asshown in FIG. 2, depending on the embodiment. If the in-chunk index 255includes the mapping for all files in the chunk 285, the in-chunk index255 may also provide information regarding which application offsetsrelate to which files in the chunk 285. For example, the in-chunk index255 in FIG. 2 can have an additional column indicating the file to whichthe application offsets belong. In some embodiments, the system 200 mayprovide another index that includes information about the location ofthe starting application offset record and the end application offsetrecord within the in-chunk index 255 for different files in the chunk285.

Although not shown in FIG. 2, the in-chunk index 255 may also includethe physical byte position in the chunk 285 that corresponds to thesecondary copy offset. By including the physical chunk byte information,the system 200 can directly access the actual byte position for thesecondary copy offset. This may be especially helpful when a file isstored across multiple chunks 285, and the secondary copy offset may notindicate directly where the point is located within the current chunk285.

The granularity at which the mapping entries are included in thein-chunk index 255 may be set according to the requirements of thesystem 200. As an example, mapping entries in the in-chunk index 255 maybe provided for at least every 1 MB. The granularity can become morerefined by selecting a smaller interval, but the size of the mappinginformation would increase accordingly. The interval at which themapping information is provided may not be a fixed interval. Asexplained with respect to data flow step 1, the media agents 270 maywrite data to the buffer when copying the data from primary storage tosecondary storage, and the amount of data written to the buffer maydiffer from one write operation to the next write operation wheniteratively writing the chunks with multiple buffer writes. Because ofthe dynamic nature of the amount of data that may be written to thebuffer during each write, the mapping entries may not be created atfixed intervals (e.g., at every 1 MB). Thus, the interval may beirregular and may not be predictable (e.g., from between 1 MB and N MBfor any given buffer write).

Respective application offsets and/or respective secondary file offsets(archive offsets) may be spaced from one another by the size of theinterval. As an example, a first mapping entry of an in-chunk index 255for a particular file has an application offset of 100 MB (and anarchive offset of 500 MB). A 4 MB chunk of the file is written to thechunk the next interval. Thus, the next mapping entry written to thein-chunk index 255 includes an application offset of 104 MB, and anarchive offset of 504 MB). In other embodiments, the application offsetand/or archive offset for the next entry do not increase by exactly 4MB, due to compression, embedded metadata or encryption information, orthe like. For instance, the next entry may include an application offsetof 104 MB, but an archive offset of 503 MB, where compression is appliedto the secondary copy of the file.

In FIG. 2, the in-chunk index 255 illustrates mapping information forfile F1. As mentioned above, an in-chunk index 255 can include themapping information for all files in the chunk 285. The in-chunk index255 in FIG. 2 includes application offsets and corresponding archiveoffsets. For example, application offset x₁ corresponds to archiveoffset y₁; application offset x₂ corresponds to archive offset y₂;application offset x₃ corresponds to archive offset y₃; and applicationoffset x_(n) corresponds to archive offset y_(n). Application offsetx_(n) corresponds to point x_(n) indicated in file F1 235 in theinformation store 230. As explained above, the interval betweenapplication offsets may not be fixed. For example, the interval betweenapplication offset x₁ and application offset x₂ may be different fromthe interval between application offset x₂ and application offset x₃. Inaddition, the interval between archive offsets may not be fixed. Forexample, the interval between archive offset y₁ and archive offset y₂may be different from the interval between archive offset y₂ and archiveoffset y₃. The interval between archive offsets may vary due tocompression, deduplication, etc.

At data flow step 3, the media agent 270 writes the current portion ofthe file and the corresponding in-chunk index 255 entry to the secondarystorage device 280. As mentioned above, the in-chunk index 255 can becopied to the storage devices 280 as a part of the chunk metadata and/oras a chunk index file(s). In this manner, the amount of information inthe storage manager index 215 and/or the media agent index(es) 275 canbe maintained at a manageable level. The system 200 can repeat data flowsteps 2 and 3 for each buffer write until the backup is complete.

FIG. 3 is a data flow diagram illustrative of the interaction betweenthe various components of another exemplary information managementsystem 300 configured to implement partial file restore, according tocertain embodiments. As illustrated, the exemplary informationmanagement system 300 includes a storage manager 310, a client 320, aninformation store 330, one or more partial file restore modules 350, oneor more applications 360, a media agent 370, and one or more secondarystorage devices 380. The system 300 and corresponding components of FIG.3 may be similar to or the same as the system 100, 200 and similarlynamed components of FIGS. 1D and 2. Moreover, depending on theembodiment, the system 300 of FIG. 3 may additionally include any of theother components shown in FIG. 1D that are not specifically shown inFIG. 3 (e.g., one or more data agents, etc.). The system 300 may includeone or more of each component. All components of the system 300 can bein direct communication with each other or communicate indirectly viathe client 320, the storage manager 310, the media agent 370, or thelike. In certain embodiments, some of the components in FIG. 3 shown asseparate components can reside on a single computing device, or viceversa. For example, the partial level restore module 350 can be on themedia agent 370 or on a separate computing device.

With further reference to FIG. 3, the interaction between the variouscomponents of the exemplary information management system will now bedescribed in greater detail with respect to data flow steps indicated bythe numbered arrows.

At data flow step 1, the user selects a portion of a file to restoreusing partial file restore, e.g., at a client 320. The user may browsethe files that have been moved or copied to secondary storage via a userinterface. For instance, the user interface may be a file browsinginterface (e.g., Windows Explorer) provided by the operating and/or filesystem executing on the client device 320. Or the user may access thefiles using the interface of the native application used to view orotherwise access the file (e.g., a video playback application, wordprocessing application, or the like). The system 300 may providemetadata about the files, and a file may be opened using theapplication(s) 360 associated with the file. The user interface may insome cases also be provided through a file browsing interface providedby the storage manager 310 (e.g., the storage manager 310 console).

In an illustrative example, the user accesses a video file that havebeen archived (or otherwise copied) to secondary storage devices 380.According to certain embodiments, the file resides in secondary storageand is no longer in the native format of the source application, or isotherwise not directly usable by the source application. However, thisfact is transparent to the user in certain embodiments, because the fileis logically accessible via the file system executing on the client 320via a mount point to the secondary copy. Thus, when the user opens thefile (e.g., by opening the file using a file interface of a videoplayback application running on the client computing device 320, or byclicking on a file icon in Windows Explorer or another file systembrowser), the client 320, via the mount point, forwards the request toopen the file to the storage manager 310.

The user may choose the portion of the file to restore by interactingwith the application 360 associated with the file. For instance, theuser selects a portion of the file for playback or other access. As oneexample, the user may open a video file and scroll to a certain point inthe video, thereby selecting the starting point for the portion torestore. As another illustrative example, a user may drag a slider iconof a word processing application to scroll to a position towards the endof a very large text document that is being accessed from secondarystorage. The word processing application may buffer the document suchthat the entire document is not initially accessed. In such a case,instead of requesting a restore of the entire contents of the file fromthe initial position in the document to the scrolled-to position, theclient 320 may request that only a portion of the file is restored. Forinstance, the portion may correspond to one or more application offsetsin proximity to the scrolled-to position in the document (e.g.,corresponding to a certain buffered portion of the document whichincludes the scrolled-to position). In some embodiments, when the fileis initially opened, the application may request to restore only thebeginning portion of the file, and only the range of data correspondingto that portion may be restored from secondary storage.

When the user indicates the portion to be restored, the application 360can calculate and/or determine one or more corresponding applicationoffsets for the portion. For example, if the user scrolls to a point ina video file or in a text document, the application 360 may designatethe corresponding application offset as the start of the portion torestore. The system 300 may designate the number of bytes to restorefrom the starting application offset (e.g., to the end of the file, afixed number of bytes for buffering, etc.). In some embodiments, theapplication 360 can provide both the starting application offset and theend application offset.

At data flow step 2, the client 320 requests a restore of a selectedportion of the file. After the application 360 determines the startingapplication offset (or both the starting and end application offsets),the client 320 may, via the mount point, send a request to the storagemanager 310 to restore the portion of the file. For instance, based onthe user's input, the application 360 may determine the applicationoffset(s) and forward a request including the offset(s) and any otherappropriate information (e.g., file ID, starting application offset,etc.) to the file system executing on the client 320. In turn, the filesystem, via the mount point, forwards a request, again including theoffset(s) and any other appropriate information (e.g., file ID, startingapplication offset, etc.) to the storage manager 310 to restore theselected portion of the file. In some embodiments, a data agentexecuting on the client 320 may also be involved in generating therequest to the storage manager.

Upon receipt of the request, the storage manager 310 may instruct theappropriate media agent(s) 370 to restore the selected portion, e.g., byreferring to the storage manager index 315. For example, the request torestore may be for file F1, which is stored in backup B1 and in StorageDevice 1 380. The storage manager 310 can determine, e.g., by referringto the index 315, that the data for file F1 is part of backup B1 andthat backup B1 is associated with Media Agent 1 370. The storage manager310 then can instruct Media Agent 1 370 to restore the selected portion.

At data flow step 3, the partial file restore module 350 accesses thein-chunk index 355 for the chunk 385 in which the selected portion isstored, and searches for the corresponding portion start position in thesecondary copy using the in-chunk index 355. The partial file restoremodule 350 may be a part of or associated with a media agent 370. Themedia agent 370 that is instructed to restore the selected portion mayinstruct its associated partial file restore module 350 to access andsearch through the in-chunk index 355.

In FIG. 3, the secondary copy is referred to as an “archive file,” butthe secondary copy can be created through various types of storageoperations, such as, for example, backup, replication, snapshots, andthe like. Similarly, the in-chunk index 355 may also be created whileperforming various types of storage operations, such as, backup,replication, snapshots, archiving, and the like. The in-chunk index 355may be created in a similar manner and may have a similar format asdescribed in connection with FIG. 2.

In a specific, illustrative example relating to FIG. 3, the user selectsfile F1, which has been copied to Storage Device 1 380. The user opensfile F1 using the application 360 associated with file F1. The userinteracts with the application to select a portion of the file torestore which corresponds to a starting application offset x_(o). FileF1 starts in Chunk C₁ 385 a and ends in Chunk C₂ 385 b. As explainedwith respect to FIG. 2, if a file is stored across multiple chunks 385,the media agent index 375 may include information about which part ofthe file is stored in which chunk 385. For instance, the media agentindex 375 may include information about the starting application offsetfor the file portion in each chunk 385. In this example, Media Agent 1370 may indicate that the starting application offset for file F1 inchunk C₂ 385 b is x_(p). Since the user selected application offset isx_(o), which is prior to x_(p), Media Agent 1 370 can determine that itshould access the in-chunk index 355 for chunk C₁ 385 a. For the chunk385 in which the file begins, the media agent index 375 may not need toinclude information about the starting application offset for the fileportion in the chunk 385.

Because the interval between the application offsets may not be fixed,as explained with respect to FIG. 2, the partial file restore module 350may need to search through the application offsets in the in-chunk index355. But the number of application offsets in the in-chunk index 355 canbe quite large (e.g., for video or other media files), and therefore,there is a need to locate the corresponding secondary copy offset in aquick and efficient manner. Various search techniques may be used tosearch through the mapping information to locate the correspondingsecondary copy offset.

One example of such technique is the binary search. For instance, thepartial file restore module 350 may start the search in the middle ofthe application offsets. If the middle application offset is the same asthe user application offset, the partial file restore module 350 can usethe corresponding secondary storage offset. If the requested applicationoffset is less than the middle application offset, the partial filerestore module 350 compares the user application offset with the middleapplication offset of the lower half of the application offsets. If theuser selected application offset is greater than the middle applicationoffset, the partial file restore module 350 compares the userapplication offset with the middle application offset in the upper halfof the application offsets. The partial file restore module 350 canrepeat the binary search process until an application offset equal tothe user application offset is found or until it is determined that suchoffset does not exist.

Depending on the level of granularity and other factors (e.g., whetherthe interval is fixed or not), the in-chunk index may not include amapping entry having an application offset that exactly corresponds tothe requested application offset. In such cases, the partial filerestore module 350 can use the binary search or other search process tolocate an application offset in proximity to the requested applicationoffset (e.g., the nearest application offset prior to the requestedapplication offset) and restore starting from that application offset.In such a case, in order to inform the application 360 that the restoredfile portion does not begin exactly at the requested location, thepartial file restore module 350 or other component can send informationback to the application 360 indicating the actual starting applicationoffset for the restored portion.

In the specific example, the partial file restore module 350 accessesthe in-chunk index 355 for chunk C₁ 385 a and performs a binary searchto locate the entry in the in-chunk index including an applicationoffset that is the same as or closest to the desired application offsetx_(o). The in-chunk index 355 for file F1 does not include an entryhaving the application offset x_(o), and the closest application offsetthat is included in an entry in the in-chunk index is x_(n), which isless than x_(o). Accordingly, the partial file restore module 350determines that the nearest secondary copy offset that comes before therequested offset is x_(n).

At data flow 4, the media agent 370 restores the selected portion. Oncethe partial file restore module 350 locates the corresponding or nearestapplication offset, the media agent 370 can begin restoring the data forthe user selected portion. In some embodiments, the in-chunk index 355may include information about the physical chunk byte position for thesecondary copy offsets, and the media agent 370 can seek to the physicalbyte position and start restoring from that position. The media agent370 can restore the portion to primary storage (e.g., the informationstore 330). The media agent 370 may send any related information to theapplication 360, such as the restore application offset, correspondingsecondary copy offset, etc. For example, if the application offset doesnot map exactly to the user selected application offset, the media agent370 can send the actual application offset information to theapplication 360. The application 360 can adjust the application offsetaccordingly when the user accesses the restored portion.

In this manner, the system 300 may restore the user selected portion ofa file from secondary storage in a fast and efficient manner. Byproviding mapping information between application offsets and secondarycopy offsets, the system 300 can quickly locate the corresponding ornearest secondary copy offset for the user selected application offset.Using the in-chunk index 355, the system 300 can provide a fast responsetime for the restore and a positive user experience. In addition, thein-chunk index 355 may be stored in secondary storage, reducing theamount of data included in the storage manager index 315 and/or themedia manager index(es) 375. Partial file restore can reduce the amountof time and resources for restoring files from secondary storage.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrative of one embodiment of a routine forcreating in-chunk index for partial file restore according to certainembodiments. The routine 400 is described with respect to the system 200of FIG. 2. However, one or more of the steps of routine 400 may beimplemented by other information management systems, such as thosedescribed in greater detail above with reference to FIG. 1D. The routine400 can be implemented by any one, or a combination of, a client, astorage manager, a data agent, a partial file restore module, a mediaagent, and the like. Moreover, further details regarding certain aspectsof at least some of steps of the routine 400 are described in greaterdetail above with reference to FIG. 2. Although described in relation tobackup operations for the purposes of illustration, the process of FIG.4 can be compatible with other types of storage operations, such as, forexample, migration, snapshots, replication operations, archiving, andthe like.

At block 401, the storage manager 210 receives instructions to back upfiles. The storage manager 210 may instruct one or more media agents 270to initiate backup.

At block 402, the partial file restore module 250 creates one or morein-chunk indexes 255 for the files. The partial file restore module 250may be a part of a media agent 270. When the media agents 270 areinstructed to perform a backup, the media agents 270 may instruct therespective partial file restore modules 250 to create the in-chunk index255.

At block 403, the media agents 270 copy the files and the in-chunkindexes 255 to the secondary storage devices 280. The in-chunk index 255for a chunk 285 can be stored with the chunk 285 in the storage devices280. The in-chunk index 255 may be stored as a part of the chunkmetadata and/or as one or more chunk index files.

As explained in connection with FIG. 2, an in-chunk index 255 entry maybe created for each buffer write. For example, the partial file restoremodule 250 creates the in-chunk index 255 entry for the portion of thefile being processed in the current buffer write operation, and themedia agent 270 writes the portion of the file and the in-chunk index255 entry to the storage device 280.

The routine 400 can include fewer, more, or different blocks than thoseillustrated in FIG. 4 without departing from the spirit and scope of thedescription. Moreover, it will be appreciated by those skilled in theart and others that some or all of the functions described in thisdisclosure may be embodied in software executed by one or moreprocessors of the disclosed components and mobile communication devices.The software may be persistently stored in any type of non-volatilestorage.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrative of one embodiment of a routine forrestoring a file using partial file restore according to certainembodiments. The routine 500 is described with respect to the system 300of FIG. 3. However, one or more of the steps of routine 500 may beimplemented by other information management systems, such as thosedescribed in greater detail above with reference to FIGS. 1D and 2. Theroutine 500 can be implemented by any one, or a combination of, aclient, a storage manager, a data agent, a partial level restore module,a media agent, and the like. Moreover, further details regarding certainaspects of at least some of steps of the routine 500 are described ingreater detail above with reference to FIG. 3. Although described inrelation to backup operations for the purposes of illustration, theprocess of FIG. 5 can be compatible with other types of storageoperations, such as, for example, migration, snapshots, replicationoperations, archiving, and the like.

At block 501, the storage manager 310 receives instructions to restore aportion of a file, e.g., from a client 320. The storage manager 310 mayreceive one or more application offsets for the portion to be restored.The storage manager 310 may determine which media agent(s) 370 should beinstructed to restored the requested data (e.g., by referring to thestorage manager index 315).

At block 502, the appropriate media agent(s) 370 accesses the in-chunkindex 355 for the file in the secondary storage devices 370. Forexample, the media agent 370 may determine which chunk 385 stores theportion of the file to be restored (e.g., by referring to the mediaagent index 375). Once the media agent 370 determines the chunk 385 tobe restored, the media agent 370 accesses the in-chunk index 355 forthat chunk 385.

At block 503, the partial file restore module 350 searches for the startof the portion in the secondary copy using the in-chunk index 355. Thepartial file restore module 350 may be a part of the media agent 370,and the media agent 370 may instruct the partial file restore module 350to search through the in-chunk index 355. The partial file restoremodule 350 can perform a search through the application offsets in thein-chunk index 355 to find the corresponding or nearest secondary copyoffset.

At block 504, the media agent 370 restores the corresponding portion ofthe secondary copy from the storage devices 380. Once the partial filerestore module 350 determines the corresponding or nearest secondarycopy offset, the media agent 370 can restore the data starting from thesecondary copy offset. The media agent 370 may restore a certain numberof bytes from the secondary copy offset, or may restore to the end ofthe chunk or file. After the media agent 370 begins restoring the data,the application 360 can start accessing the restored data in theinformation store 330.

The routine 500 can include fewer, more, or different blocks than thoseillustrated in FIG. 5 without departing from the spirit and scope of thedescription. Moreover, it will be appreciated by those skilled in theart and others that some or all of the functions described in thisdisclosure may be embodied in software executed by one or moreprocessors of the disclosed components and mobile communication devices.The software may be persistently stored in any type of non-volatilestorage.

An Exemplary Information Management System for Implementing PartialSharing of Files

The systems and methods described with respect to FIGS. 1A-1H and 2-6can be used for file sharing, including for restoring and/or sharingportions of files. For instance, according to certain embodiments, theuser may share a portion of a file in secondary storage with otherusers. Such a portion may be the portion of the file the user wants toview or restore, as discussed in connection with FIGS. 2-5. The portionof the secondary storage file to be shared can be sent to the recipientuser as a link to the portion of the file. In some embodiments, the usermay decide to share an entire file instead of a portion of a file, andthe link sent to the recipient user can be a link to the entire file.

The systems and methods described with respect to FIGS. 1A-1H, 2, and 3can be used for sharing a portion of files in secondary storage. Forinstance, the system of FIGS. 1D, 2, and 3 can include a partial sharingmodule (not shown) that generally manages partial sharing of secondarystorage files in a information management system 100, 200, 300. In someembodiments, the partial sharing module is a software module that formsa part of or resides on the storage manager 140, 210, 310 or,alternatively, the media agents 144, 270, 370. The partial sharingmodule can additionally be a software module executing on one or more ofthe client computing devices 102, 220, 320. In some embodiments, thepartial sharing module may be implemented as a part of the data agent142. The system of FIGS. 1D, 2, and 3 can also include one or moreindexing agents (not shown) that generally perform content indexing ofsecondary storage data in a information management system 100, 200, 300.The indexing agents may also obtain metadata related to secondarystorage data. In some embodiments, an indexing agent is a softwaremodule that forms a part of or resides on the media agent 144, 270, 370.In other embodiments, the indexing agent may be implemented as a part ofother components in the system 100, 200, 300. The partial sharing ofsecondary storage files will be discussed in more detail with respect toFIGS. 6-9.

FIG. 6 is a data flow diagram illustrative of the interaction betweenthe various components of an exemplary information management system 600configured to implement partial sharing of files, according to certainembodiments. As illustrated, the exemplary information management system600 includes a storage manager 610, one or more client computing devices(a first client computing device 620 a and a second client computingdevice 620 b are depicted in FIG. 6), an information store 630 (e.g., adisk drive or other storage device associated with the second clientcomputing device 620 b), a partial sharing module 650, one or moreapplications 660, one or more media agents 670, and one or moresecondary storage devices 680. The information store 630 may reside in aprimary storage subsystem, while the secondary storage devices 680 mayreside in a secondary storage subsystem, for example. The partialsharing module 650 may be similar to the partial file restore module250, 350 in FIGS. 2 and 3. The system 600 and corresponding componentsof FIG. 6 may be similar to or the same as the system 100, 200, 300 andsimilarly named components of FIGS. 1D, 2, and 3. Moreover, depending onthe embodiment, the system 600 of FIG. 6 may additionally include any ofthe other components shown in FIGS. 1D, 2, and 3 that are notspecifically shown in FIG. 6 (e.g., one or more data agents, etc.). Thesystem 600 may include one or more of each component. All components ofthe system 600 can be in direct communication with each other orcommunicate indirectly via the client computing devices 620 a, 620 b,the storage manager 610, the media agent 670, or the like. In certainembodiments, some of the components in FIG. 6 shown as separatecomponents can reside on a single computing device, or vice versa. Forexample, the partial sharing module 650 can be on the media agent 670 oron a separate computing device.

With further reference to FIG. 6, the interaction between the variouscomponents of the exemplary information management system will now bedescribed in greater detail with respect to data flow steps indicated bythe numbered arrows.

At data flow step 1, the user selects a portion of a file in secondarystorage to share with another user, e.g., at a first client computingdevice 620 a. As explained in connection with FIGS. 2-5, the user canindicate the start offset and/or the end offset for the portion of thesecondary storage file to share using the application 660 associatedwith the file. The offsets selected by the user using the application660 may be based on the native format of the file (e.g., the format ofthe primary copy of the file prior to being copied and/or moved tosecondary storage) and may correspond to one or more application offsets(e.g., a starting offset x_(n)) that then need to be converted tocorresponding secondary storage offsets of the file, as explained above,e.g., with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3.

The user may select a portion of the file to share and access a menu toshare the portion with another user. For example, the user can invoke acontext menu by right-click mouse operation, and the context menu mayinclude a menu item to share the selected portion of the file. Certaindetails relating to selecting a portion of a secondary storage file toshare are described with respect to FIGS. 7-8. In some embodiments, theuser may want to share an entire secondary storage file, instead ofsharing only a portion. In such case, the user can share the secondarystorage file without indicating a start and/or end offset for theportion to be shared.

At data flow step 2, the client computing device 620 a sends a requestto share the portion of the file. The request can include one or moreapplication offsets for the portion to be shared. For example, therequest can include the start application offset or both the start andend application offsets. The storage manager 610 can receive suchrequest and forward it to a partial sharing module 650. The partialsharing module 650 may be a part of the storage manager 610 or a mediaagent 670, depending on the embodiment. The link to the portion of thefile may include the secondary storage offsets of the file thatcorrespond to the portion to be shared. In order to determine thesecondary storage offsets, the partial sharing module 650 may access thein-chunk index 655 in the secondary storage devices 680 or in the mediaagent index 675. For example, the partial sharing module 650 can referto the in-chunk index 655 of the chunk 685 that includes the portion ofthe file to be shared. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the partialsharing module 650 may reside on a media agent 670. For example, eachmedia agent 670 can include a partial sharing module 650, and therequest to share the portion of the file can be forwarded to the mediaagent 670 and/or the partial sharing module 650 that has access to thein-chunk index 655. In some embodiments, the partial sharing module 650resides on the storage manager 610 and generates the link based oninformation from the media agents 670.

At data flow step 3, the partial sharing module 650 generates a link tothe portion of the file. If there is more than one partial sharingmodule 650 in the system 600, the partial sharing module 650 that hasaccess to the in-chunk index 655 for the portion of the file cangenerate the link based on the in-chunk index 655. For example, if theportion of the file to be shared is stored in Storage Device 1 680 andMedia Agent 1 670 is associated with Storage Device 1 680, the partialsharing module 650 associated with Media Agent 1 670 accesses thein-chunk index 655 to generate the link to the portion of the file. Asexplained above, the link can include the secondary storage offsetscorresponding to the portion of the file to be shared such thataccessing the link can automatically trigger a restore of the sharedportion. The restore of the portion can be fast and efficient since theappropriate secondary storage offsets are already identified by thelink. In some embodiments, the application offsets selected by the userin the application 660 may not correspond exactly to secondary storageoffsets in the in-chunk index 655. In these embodiments, the secondarystorage offsets that are closest to the application offsets may beincluded in the link. In one embodiment, the link is a UNC (UniversalNaming Convention) path. UNC paths can be used to access networkresources. In some embodiments, the user does not select a portion ofthe file, but shares the whole file. In these embodiments, the link doesnot include secondary storage offsets.

In certain embodiments, the portion of the file to share may begenerated using content index data for secondary storage files. Forinstance, files in secondary storage may be content indexed, and theuser may search the content index data to identify files that contain aspecific keyword or phrase. The search results can display portions offiles in the content index data that contain the keyword or phrase, andthe user can select a portion of a file to share from the displayedportions of files that meet the search criteria. In such case, the linkmay be to the content index data. For instance, a paragraph of a file inthe content index data that includes the keyword may be displayed to theuser, and the user can share the paragraph with another user. Somedetails relating to content indexing are further explained in connectionwith FIGS. 9-10.

The link can include a preview of the portion of the file. For example,the file can be a video file, and the preview can include an image fromthe portion of the file. Or the file can be a document, and the previewcan include some text from the portion of the file to be shared. In oneembodiment, the link is in the form of a preview (e.g., an image of avideo file is displayed as a preview and can be clicked on to access theportion). In certain embodiments, the preview can be from content indexdata.

At data flow step 4, the partial sharing module 650 sends the link tothe first client computing device 620 a that requested the link. Thegenerated link can be forwarded to the requesting first client computingdevice 620 a, for example, to be included in an email.

At data flow step 5, the link is sent to another user. For example, thelink may be sent in an email by a user associated with the first clientcomputing device 620 a to another user associated with the second clientcomputing device 620 b. The link may be authenticated such that onlyauthorized users can access the link and the portion of the file. If itis determined that the recipient user is not authorized to view oraccess the portion of the file, a preview for the link may not bedisplayed.

At data flow step 6, the user who receives the link accesses the portionof the file through the link. Accessing the link may trigger a requestto restore the portion of the file represented by the link. The requestto restore may be received by the storage manager 610, and the storagemanager 610 can instruct the appropriate media agent 670 to restore therequested portion. Since the link can include the secondary storageoffsets corresponding to the portion of the file to be shared, therequested portion can be restored quickly, e.g., without furtherprocessing to identify which portion of the file corresponds to theportion to be restored. The restored portion of the file may be storedin information store 630, for example, and the application 660 can startaccessing the restored data from the information store 630. In someembodiments, the restored portion of the file is only loaded into mainmemory of the second client computing device 620 b (or other appropriatecomputing device) during access (e.g., playback) instead of beingseparately stored in the information store 630. Certain details relatingto restoring the portion of the file are explained above in connectionwith FIGS. 3 and 5.

In other embodiments, the link may not include the secondary storageoffsets, but may instead include the application offsets, and theapplication offsets may be converted to corresponding secondary storageoffsets at the time of restore. The process of determining the secondarystorage offsets of the shared portion and restoring the portion can besimilar to the data flow steps described with respect to FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary user interface 700 for sharing a portionof a video file in secondary storage. In FIG. 7, the user interface 700displays a user interface of an application that is used to access avideo file in secondary storage. The application can be a nativeapplication associated with a file that has been moved or copied tosecondary storage, as described in FIGS. 2, 3, and 6. For instance, theapplication can be Microsoft Windows Media Player, and the video filecan be in a format recognized by Media Player.

The user may select a portion of the video file to share through a menu.For instance, the user may access a context menu by a right-click mouseoperation, and the context menu can include a menu item to share aportion of the video file. A variety of mechanisms are possible forallowing the user to select the portion of the file. For example, thecontext menu can include a menu item to share a portion of file startingfrom current position. The menu can provide an option to share adesignated length of the video file from the current position (e.g.,share 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, etc.). In another example, theuser may be able to indicate the start offset and/or the end offset ofthe portion to share (e.g., by choosing the start offset and/or the endoffset on the playback slider). In other embodiments, the user may beable to select a portion of the video file on the playback slider, andshare the currently selected portion of the video file by selecting themenu option in the context menu.

Users can share a variety of different types of documents. For instance,FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary user interface 800 for sharing a portionof a document in secondary storage. In FIG. 8, the user interface 800displays a user interface of an application that is used to access adocument file in secondary storage. The application can be a nativeapplication 260, 360, 660 associated with a file that has been moved orcopied to secondary storage, as described in FIGS. 2, 3, and 6. Forexample, the application may be Microsoft Word, and the document filecan be a secondary copy of a Word file.

The user may select a portion of the document file to share using a menuin the user interface 800 of the application. For example, the user mayaccess a context menu by a right-click mouse operation, and the contextmenu can include a menu item to share a portion of the document file.The user can select a portion of the document to share in the userinterface 800, and right-click to show the context menu and choose themenu option to share the selected portion of the document. In someembodiments, the user may indicate the portion to share by selecting thestart and the end of the portion.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrative of one embodiment of a routine 900implemented by an information management system for sharing a portion ofsecondary storage files. The routine 900 is described with respect tothe system 100 of FIG. 1D. However, one or more of the steps of routine900 may be implemented by other information management systems, such asany of the systems 200, 300, 600 in FIGS. 2, 3, and 6. The routine 900can be implemented by any one, or a combination of, a client computingdevice, a storage manager, a data agent, a media agent, and the like.Although described in relation to backup operations for the purposes ofillustration, the process of FIG. 9 can be compatible with other typesof storage operations, such as, for example, migration, snapshots,replication operations, and the like.

At block 901, one or more media agents 144 create and store index dataand/or metadata for secondary storage data. Secondary storage data maybe created from a backup operation (or other secondary copy operation,such as archiving, snapshot, replication, etc.) of primary storage data.The index data and/or metadata may be stored, for example, in the mediaagent database 152. The index data can include content index data. Forinstance, an indexing module on the media agent 144 may generate acontent index of secondary copies (e.g., a backup, archive, or snapshot)and store it within the media agent database 152. The media agent 144may use the content index and/or metadata to locate secondary storagedata objects that match search terms and/or other search criteria. Thecontent index can include attributes and/or metadata in native format(e.g., the format of an application that generated the data).

Content indexes can be created using any known technique, includingthose described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0228771, entitled“METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SEARCHING STORED DATA,” which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

The indexing module can create an index of an organization's content byexamining files generated from routine secondary copy operationsperformed by the organization. The indexing module can index contentfrom current secondary copies of the system as well as older copies thatcontain data that may no longer be available on the organization'snetwork. For example, the organization may have secondary copies datingback several years that contain older data that is no longer available,but may still be relevant to the organization. The indexing module mayassociate additional properties with data that are not part oftraditional indexing of content, such as the time the content was lastavailable or user attributes associated with the content. For example,user attributes such as a project name with which a data file isassociated may be stored.

Members of the organization can search the created content index tolocate content on a secondary storage device. For example, a user maysearch for content available during a specified time period, such asemail received during a particular month. A user may also searchspecifically for content that is no longer available, such as searchingfor files deleted from the user's primary computer system. The user mayperform a search based on the attributes described above, such as asearch based on the time an item was deleted or based on a project withwhich the item was associated. A user may also search based on keywordsassociated with user attributes, such as searching for files that onlyan executive of the organization would have access to, or searching forfiles tagged as confidential.

At block 902, a user searches for a file in the secondary storagedevices 108 and selects a portion of the file to share with anotheruser. For example, the user can search for files stored in the storagedevices 108 that meet certain criteria. The search can be based onsearch term(s) and/or other criteria. The storage manager 140 mayreceive the search request and forward the search term(s) and/or othercriteria to the appropriate media agent 144. The media agents 144 mayrefer to the index data and/or metadata in order to identify relevantfiles. In some embodiments, the user does not search for a file, butselects a file while browsing the secondary storage files, e.g., in anative view that will be explained in detail with respect to FIG. 10below.

One the user chooses a secondary storage file, the user can select aportion of the file to share with another user. In many cases, the usermay not need to share an entire file. For example, a user may want toshare only 2 relevant pages out of a 100-page document. The user canindicate the start and the end of the portion to share. In someembodiments, the selection of the portion is based on proximity tosearch terms found in the file. For instance, the portion may be theparagraphs in which one or more search terms are found.

At block 903, the user sends a link to the shared portion of the file.After the user selects the portion of the file to share, the user cansend a link or pointer to the shared portion. For instance, the link maybe sent in an email. The link may be authenticated so that only theintended recipient can view the file. The link can be shown as ordisplayed with a preview. Such preview may be implemented with data inthe content index. The link can be to the data in the content indexand/or actual file in the storage devices 108. For example, the link mayinclude information about the start offset and the end offset for theportion of the file. In some embodiments, the link can be to a link to areference copy that provides a filtered view or representation ofsecondary storage data. A reference copy is explained in detail in U.S.patent application Ser. Nos. 13/791,018 and 13/791,043, entitled“FILTERED REFERENCE COPY OF SECONDARY STORAGE DATA IN A DATA STORAGESYSTEM,” which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.The link may include information associated with the search that thesender conducted in order to locate the file. For instance, the link caninclude the query that was sent to the storage manager 140.

At block 904, a user who receives the link accesses the shared portionof the file. The recipient user can click on the link in order to viewthe shared portion. As explained above, the shared portion may be fromthe content index and/or the actual file. The user may not be able toaccess parts of the file that are not shared by the sender. In someembodiments, the user may be able to view the parts that are notselected for sharing. The link may be displayed with or as a preview ofthe shared portion. When the recipient user accesses the link, thedesignated portion of the file can be restored from the content indexand/or the storage devices 108, depending on which source is used forsharing.

In this manner, secondary storage files can be shared, making theprimary storage files available for other uses. In addition, only aportion designated for sharing can be retrieved from the content indexand/or the storage devices 108, instead of retrieving the entire file,thereby reducing the amount of resources used.

The routine 900 can include fewer, more, or different blocks than thoseillustrated in FIG. 9 without departing from the spirit and scope of thedescription. Moreover, it will be appreciated by those skilled in theart and others that some or all of the functions described in thisdisclosure may be embodied in software executed by one or moreprocessors of the disclosed components and mobile communication devices.The software may be persistently stored in any type of non-volatilestorage.

An Exemplary Information Management System for Implementing Native Viewof Secondary Storage Data

The systems and methods described with respect to FIGS. 1A-1H, 2, 3, and6 can also be used for implementing a native view of secondary storagedata. For instance, the system of FIG. 1D can include a native viewmodule (not shown) that generally manages obtaining index data (e.g.,including content index) and/or metadata in native format and providinga native view of secondary storage data in a information managementsystem 100. The secondary storage data (e.g., secondary storage filesystem) may be mounted so that it can be accessed through the nativebrowser or application on a client computing device 102. In someembodiments, the native view module is a software module executing onone or more of the client computing device 102. The native view modulecan additionally be a software module that forms a part of or resides onthe storage manager 140 or, alternatively, the media agents 144. In someembodiments, the partial sharing module may be implemented as a part ofthe data agent 142. Providing a native view of secondary storage datawill be discussed in more detail with respect to FIG. 10.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrative of one embodiment of a routine1000 implemented by an information management system for sharing aportion of secondary storage files. The routine 1000 is described withrespect to the system 100 of FIG. 1D. However, one or more of the stepsof routine 1000 may be implemented by other information managementsystems, such as the system 200, 300, 600 in FIGS. 2, 3, and 6. Theroutine 1000 can be implemented by any one, or a combination of, aclient computing device, a storage manager, a data agent, a media agent,and the like. Although described in relation to backup operations forthe purposes of illustration, the process of FIG. 10 can be compatiblewith other types of storage operations, such as, for example, migration,snapshots, replication operations, and the like.

At block 1001, the client computing device 102 locally stores metadataand/or index data relating to secondary storage data in the storagedevices 108. The secondary storage data may be generated, e.g., througha backup operation or other secondary copy operations. The clientcomputing device 102 may initially receive the metadata and/or indexdata or obtain the metadata and/or index data so that it can store themlocally. The metadata and/or index data may be stored on the clientcomputing device 102 machine itself, or in an information store 104associated with the client computing device 102. The stored metadataand/or index data can be available to the client computing device 102without accessing information in secondary storage (e.g., index datastored by the media agents 144). For instance, the stored metadataand/or index data may be available when the secondary storage is“offline.” The index data can include content index data, and a contentindex may be created and used in ways described with respect to FIG. 9.The metadata, index data, and/or content index data may be stored innative format, e.g., the format of the application(s) that generated thesecondary storage data.

At block 1002, the client computing device 102 synchronizes the metadataand/or index data relating to the secondary storage data. The clientcomputing device 102 may periodically update the stored metadata and/orindex data to reflect the most recent version of the metadata and/or theindex in secondary storage (e.g., as stored in the media agents 144).The client computing device 102 may update the metadata and/or indexdata, e.g., according to a schedule, based on events, at user request,etc. The client computing device 102 may synchronize only the metadataand/or the index without retrieving and/or synchronizing the secondarystorage data. In this manner, the amount of data that is downloaded fromsecondary storage to the client computing device 102 and/or theinformation store 104 can be reduced.

At block 1003, the client computing device 102 displays the secondarycopy data in a native view. Because the metadata and/or the index can bestored in native format, viewing and browsing of the secondary storagedata can be integrated into the native view. For example, the backed updata can be browsed using Windows Explorer, instead of going to aseparate application for browsing/viewing secondary storage data. In oneembodiment, the secondary storage data can be displayed under a “backup”or “archive” node in Windows Explorer. By incorporating the secondarystorage data into the native view, the system 100 can make it easier tonavigate various files using a single interface. Moreover, anapplication can display various files in a native view without regard tothe source of the data (e.g., primary or secondary storage).

In some embodiments, the native view may be for the file system (e.g.,Windows Explorer), and the native view may display the file systemstructure for the secondary storage data. The secondary storage filesystem may be structured as a file system tree, listing folders and dataobjects as they are structured in the file system that has been copiedto secondary storage (e.g., backed up, archived, or had a snapshottaken). The structure of the actual file system may be included in thecontent index and may be used to generate the secondary storage filesystem. The client computing device 102 may mount the secondary storagefile system. For example, the operating system of the client computingdevice 102 may mount the secondary storage file system to make itaccessible via the file system of the client computing device 102. Thesecondary storage file system may appear as a new drive or partitionwithin the file system of the client computing device 102 (e.g., as the“E:\” drive).

At block 1004, the client computing device 102 restores secondary copydata that is selected by the user. If a user selects a file in thenative view, the client computing device 102 can send a request torestore the file to the storage manager 140. The storage manager 140 caninstruct the media agents 144 to restore the file. In this manner, onlythe data requested by the user can be restored to primary storage, butthe user can still browse all of the files in secondary storage based onattributes, metadata, content index, etc.

The routine 1000 can include fewer, more, or different blocks than thoseillustrated in FIG. 10 without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe description. Moreover, it will be appreciated by those skilled inthe art and others that some or all of the functions described in thisdisclosure may be embodied in software executed by one or moreprocessors of the disclosed components and mobile communication devices.The software may be persistently stored in any type of non-volatilestorage.

TERMINOLOGY

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout thedescription and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and thelike are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to anexclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of“including, but not limited to.” As used herein, the terms “connected,”“coupled,” or any variant thereof means any connection or coupling,either direct or indirect, between two or more elements; the coupling orconnection between the elements can be physical, logical, or acombination thereof. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,”and words of similar import, when used in this application, refer tothis application as a whole and not to any particular portions of thisapplication. Where the context permits, words in the above DetailedDescription using the singular or plural number may also include theplural or singular number respectively. The word “or” in reference to alist of two or more items, covers all of the following interpretationsof the word: any one of the items in the list, all of the items in thelist, and any combination of the items in the list. Likewise the term“and/or” in reference to a list of two or more items, covers all of thefollowing interpretations of the word: any one of the items in the list,all of the items in the list, and any combination of the items in thelist.

Depending on the embodiment, certain acts, events, or functions of anyof the algorithms described herein can be performed in a differentsequence, can be added, merged, or left out altogether (e.g., not alldescribed acts or events are necessary for the practice of thealgorithms). Moreover, in certain embodiments, acts or events can beperformed concurrently, e.g., through multi-threaded processing,interrupt processing, or multiple processors or processor cores or onother parallel architectures, rather than sequentially.

Systems and modules described herein may comprise software, firmware,hardware, or any combination(s) of software, firmware, or hardwaresuitable for the purposes described herein. Software and other modulesmay reside on servers, workstations, personal computers, computerizedtablets, PDAs, and other devices suitable for the purposes describedherein. Software and other modules may be accessible via local memory,via a network, via a browser, or via other means suitable for thepurposes described herein. Data structures described herein may comprisecomputer files, variables, programming arrays, programming structures,or any electronic information storage schemes or methods, or anycombinations thereof, suitable for the purposes described herein. Userinterface elements described herein may comprise elements from graphicaluser interfaces, command line interfaces, and other suitable interfaces.

Further, the processing of the various components of the illustratedsystems can be distributed across multiple machines, networks, and othercomputing resources. In addition, two or more components of a system canbe combined into fewer components. Various components of the illustratedsystems can be implemented in one or more virtual machines, rather thanin dedicated computer hardware systems. Likewise, the data repositoriesshown can represent physical and/or logical data storage, including, forexample, storage area networks or other distributed storage systems.Moreover, in some embodiments the connections between the componentsshown represent possible paths of data flow, rather than actualconnections between hardware. While some examples of possibleconnections are shown, any of the subset of the components shown cancommunicate with any other subset of components in variousimplementations.

Embodiments are also described above with reference to flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products. Each block of the flow chart illustrationsand/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams, may be implemented by computerprogram instructions. Such instructions may be provided to a processorof a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such thatthe instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer orother programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the acts specified in the flow chart and/or block diagramblock or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to operate in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the acts specified in the flow chart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also beloaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatusto cause a series of operations to be performed on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process suchthat the instructions which execute on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus provide steps for implementing the acts specifiedin the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

Any patents and applications and other references noted above, includingany that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporatedherein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, ifnecessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts of the variousreferences described above to provide yet further implementations of theinvention.

These and other changes can be made to the invention in light of theabove Detailed Description. While the above description describescertain examples of the invention, and describes the best modecontemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, theinvention can be practiced in many ways. Details of the system may varyconsiderably in its specific implementation, while still beingencompassed by the invention disclosed herein. As noted above,particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspectsof the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology isbeing redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics,features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology isassociated. In general, the terms used in the following claims shouldnot be construed to limit the invention to the specific examplesdisclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Descriptionsection explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope ofthe invention encompasses not only the disclosed examples, but also allequivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention under theclaims.

To reduce the number of claims, certain aspects of the invention arepresented below in certain claim forms, but the applicant contemplatesthe various aspects of the invention in any number of claim forms. Forexample, while only one aspect of the invention is recited as ameans-plus-function claim under 35 U.S.C sec. 112(f) (AIA), otheraspects may likewise be embodied as a means-plus-function claim, or inother forms, such as being embodied in a computer-readable medium. Anyclaims intended to be treated under 35 U.S.C. §112(f) will begin withthe words “means for”, but use of the term “for” in any other context isnot intended to invoke treatment under 35 U.S.C. §112(f). Accordingly,the applicant reserves the right to pursue additional claims afterfiling this application, in either this application or in a continuingapplication.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of sharing a portion of a file insecondary storage, the method comprising: receiving a request to share aportion of a file in a secondary storage subsystem from a clientcomputing device residing in a primary storage subsystem, the requestincluding at least one application offset generated in response to userselection of the portion of the file, the at least one applicationoffset corresponding to the portion of the file and usable by a softwareapplication to access the portion of the file for presentation to auser; identifying, with computer hardware and using the at least oneapplication offset, a start secondary storage offset of the file, thestart secondary storage offset separate from the application offset andcorresponding to a location of the portion of the file on a firststorage device residing in the secondary storage subsystem; generating,using computer hardware, a link to the portion of the file, the linkincluding a reference to the start secondary storage offset; and inresponse to receipt of an indication of a user selection of the link,causing a restore of the portion of the file from the first storagedevice for presentation to a user of the portion of the file by thesoftware application, without restoring the entire file from the firststorage device.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the link comprises thestart secondary storage offset and an end secondary storage offsetcorresponding to the portion of the file.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the link is authenticated to provide access to only anauthorized entity.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the link is usableto view a preview of the portion of the file.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the user selection of the link is by a user of a second clientcomputing device, the method further comprising restoring the portion ofthe file from the first storage device to a second storage deviceresiding in the primary storage subsystem and associated with the secondclient computing device.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the file iscontained within one or more chunks stored on the first storage device,and wherein said identifying a start secondary storage offset of thefile comprises referring to an in-chunk index associated with the one ormore chunks to identify the start secondary storage offset, the in-chunkindex stored on the first storage device.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein the in-chunk index comprises a list of entries of mappinginformation, each entry providing a mapping between a secondary storageoffset of the file and a corresponding application offset of the fileassociated with the software application.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein: the at least one application offset comprises a startapplication offset to indicate a beginning of the portion of the file;and said identifying a start secondary storage offset of the filecomprises using the start application offset to identify the startsecondary storage offset.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving user-entered search criteria from the client computing device;determining that the file meets the search criteria; and providingsearch results for display to a user, wherein the user can interact withthe search results to select the portion of the file for sharing. 10.The method of claim 9, wherein said determining comprises performing asearch based on the search criteria using content index data associatedwith a plurality of files in the secondary storage subsystem thatincludes the file.
 11. A data storage system configured to share aportion of a file in secondary storage, the system comprising: a firststorage device residing in a secondary storage subsystem and storing aplurality of files including a first file; and computer hardwareconfigured to execute instructions that cause the computer hardware to:receive a request to share a portion of the first file from a clientcomputing device residing in a primary storage subsystem, the requestincluding at least one application offset generated in response to userselection of the portion of the first file, the at least one applicationoffset corresponding to the portion of the first file and usable by asoftware application to access the portion of the first file forpresentation to a user; identify, using the at least one applicationoffset, a start secondary storage offset of the first file, the startsecondary storage offset separate from the application offset andcorresponding to a location of the portion of the first file on thefirst storage device; generate a link to the portion of the first file,the link including a reference to the start secondary storage offset;and in response to receipt of an indication of a user selection of thelink, causing a restore of the portion of the first file from the firststorage device for presentation to a user of the portion of the firstfile by the software application, without restoring the entire firstfile from the first storage device.
 12. The system of claim 11, whereinthe link comprises the start secondary storage offset and an endsecondary storage offset corresponding to the portion of the first file.13. The system of claim 11, wherein the link is authenticated to provideaccess to only an authorized entity.
 14. The system of claim 11, whereinthe user selection of the link is by a user of a second client computingdevice, the instructions further configured to cause the computerhardware to restore the portion of the first file from the first storagedevice to a second storage device residing in the primary storagesubsystem and associated with the second client computing device. 15.The system of claim 11, wherein the first file is contained within oneor more chunks stored on the first storage device, the system furthercomprising an in-chunk index stored on the first storage device andassociated with the one or more chunks, wherein the identification ofthe start secondary storage offset is performed at least in part byreferring to the in-chunk index to identify the start secondary storageoffset.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the in-chunk index comprisesa list of entries of mapping information, each entry providing a mappingbetween a secondary storage offset of the first file and a correspondingapplication offset of the first file associated with the softwareapplication.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein: the at least oneapplication offset comprises a start application offset to indicate abeginning of the portion of the first file; and the identification ofthe start secondary storage offset of the first file is performed atleast in part by using the start application offset to identify thestart secondary storage offset.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein theinstructions further cause the computer hardware to: receiveuser-entered search criteria from the client computing device; determinethat the first file meets the search criteria; and provide searchresults for display to a user, wherein the user can interact with thesearch results to select the portion of the first file for sharing. 19.The system of claim 18, wherein the determination that the first filemeets the search criteria is performed at least in part by executing asearch using content index data associated with a plurality of files inthe secondary storage subsystem that includes the first file.
 20. Amethod of sharing a file stored in secondary storage, the methodcomprising: receiving from a client computing device a request to sharea first file stored in secondary storage; generating, using computerhardware, a link to the first file in the secondary storage based onmetadata associated with the first file in the secondary storage, thelink configured to, upon access of the link, cause a restore of thefirst file in the secondary storage to primary storage; and sending thelink to the client computing device.